The Gardner Heist, by Ulrich Boser

Genre: Nonfiction/True Crime

Rating: ★★★★

Published: February 24, 2009

Publisher: Harper Collins/Smithsonian

Pages: 223 (260 counting notes and index)

The first time I ever heard about the Gardner Museum theft was during my senior year of high school, when I was channel surfing trying to find some adequate background noise for my homework. An old feature on MSNBC was coming up that it covered an old art theft. I love art, and am interested in crime, so it sounded like a good idea.

The "old art theft" the program covered was none other than the infamous robbery of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in 1990. After the first line of the program, I was hooked. And, after reading Boser's The Gardner Heist, I can tell that such sentiment is not uncommon when it comes to the Gardner theft.

The Gardner Heist does more than just describe the theft itself; due to the ambiguous nature of the theft, there is still a lot that remains unknown about the theives' motives, as well as the question of what happened to the art. Because the heist itself lacks that sort of resolution, Boser's story lies more within describing his own personal investigation into the crime - meaning talking to old Boston underworld figures, private detectives, as well as FBI investigators. Taking careful stock of the facts known about the case - like, how the crime was committed - Boser picks up leads, tracks down potential sources, and eventually becomes obsessed with the Gardner theft mystery. In a way, The Gardner Heist is as much about the twisted nature of the Boston criminal underworld - with its connections to the IRA as well as political figures like John Kerry - as it is about the question of why we care and obsess over this theft.

I thought that this book was really accessible; I didn't know a lot about the theft going into it (I had forgotten most of the details from the program), but found that despite the large cast of characters, I had a relatively easy time of remembering who was who and who did what. Boser was careful not to overwhelm the reader, and at clocking in a little over 200 pages, The Gardner Heist strives for conciseness.

Boser's obsession with his private investigation eventually drives him to stop his work on the Gardner theft. He stops tracking down sources, or chasing loose ends, or following up on tips. Despite his years of work on the case, the Gardner theft remains as mysterious as ever; rather, the plot becomes more complicated, eventually leading him to conclude that "Everyone was guilty and no one was." While it was a little worrying, as the reader, to see him become more obsessed by the case and increasingly blinded by the mystery, the book ended as satisfactorily as it could have without a clear answer or solution.

The Gardner Heist didn't cover it, but: This past year, the FBI updated the public on the case, claiming that it knew who the thieves were, and that they had a good idea of where the paintings had gone over the years. (Of course, where the paintings were was another story.) It's possible that after almost 24 years, the Gardner case may finally be coming to a real end.