Famous paintings, a notorious thief, cunning cops, and a troubled Irish history highlight this true crime exploration of a celebrated case of stolen art. In the annals of fine-art theft, no case has matched - for sheer criminal panache - the heist at Russborough in 1986. The Irish police knew right away that the mastermind was a brazen Dublin gangster named Martin Cahill. Yet the great plunder - including a Gainsborough, a Goya, two works by Rubens, and a Vermeer - remained at large for years until the challenge of disposing of such eminent works forced Cahill to reach outside the mob and into the international arena. When he did, his pursuers were waiting. The sting that broke Cahill uncovered a maze of banking and drug-dealing connections that redefined the way police view art theft. With the storytelling skill of a novelist and the nose of a detective, Matthew Hart follows the twists and turns of this celebrated case.

Matthew Hart