[MSN] Book review. THE ART THIEF by Noah Charney.

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Police sketch out mystery of stolen art
PAT MACENULTY
THE ART THIEF 
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By Noah Charney. Atria. 304 pages. $25. 

A clever thief lifts a Caravaggio from a small Baroque church in Italy; a
painting entitled "White on White" by modernist painter Malevich disappears
from the vaults of the Malevich Society headquarters in Paris;
computer-hacking thieves in London swipe a similar Malevich painting from
the National Gallery of Modern Art in London; and an American businessman's
apartment is burgled for a cheap, ugly painting.

These disparate events set various police agencies and curators on a mad
hunt to find out how the crimes are related and what exactly the thief (or
thieves) want.

In Paris, the thieves leave odd clues involving the number 34. In London,
they offer to return a painting for a hefty ransom. Throughout the story
lines flits the mysterious Gabriel Coffin, an expert on art forgery and
theft, who has convinced the Italian police to release a convicted art thief
to help him track down the stolen Caravaggio.

Along the way, the reader finds a plethora of insider information about the
art world: an art auction at Christie's, several lectures by Coffin on
famous forgeries and thefts, and a tour of the British Museum by a renowned
professor.

Charney's writing style is lively, his descriptions of the art world
entertaining and he knows much about his topic.

But the book as a whole is not entirely satisfactory. None of the characters
is developed enough to engage our sympathies or hold our attention, and
Charney often relies on rambling and pedantic dialogue to educate readers
rather than trusting the story to convey the necessary information.

http://www.charlotte.com/