Art Crime

Late one afternoon in the winter of 2003, art critic Richard Dorment answered a telephone call from a stranger. The caller was Joe Simon, an American film producer and art collector. He was ringing at the suggestion of David Hockney, his neighbor in Malibu. A committee of experts called the Andy Warhol Art Authentication Board had declared the two Warhols in his collection to be fake. He wanted to know why and thought Dorment could help.

"Creepy crawling" was the Manson Family's practice of secretly entering someone's home and, without harming anyone, leaving only a trace of evidence that they had been there, some reminder that the sanctity of the private home had been breached. Now, author Jeffrey Melnick reveals just how much the Family creepy crawled their way through Los Angeles in the sixties and then on through American social, political, and cultural life for close to fifty years, firmly lodging themselves in our minds.

Claude Monet, basking in the glow of his first success as a private eye (Claude Monet, Private Eye: The Pilfered Paintings), celebrates by taking a two-day cruise down the Seine to Le Havre with wife Alice and dog Toulouse. All goes well until another passenger’s dog, a Maltese named Chloe, goes missing. Everyone assumes the dog simply wandered off somewhere to take a nap. But then a ransom note appears, and the boat becomes a crime scene. That’s when the captain asks Claude to look into the matter. Claude begins questioning the passengers and crew, and to his dismay finds more than a ...

Former federal agent Alexis Parker is tired of death, destruction, and mayhem. She wants to forget her past and focus on the present. She has a new gig guarding a priceless piece of art and a promising future with James Martin, but when she runs into an old friend while working in Paris, her new life comes crashing to an end. Armed thugs, stolen art, and a bag of cash are just the tip of the iceberg. The painting is a fake, and the insurance firm blames Alex for the theft. But the real thief is out there.

Trois femmes vivaient dans un village. La première était méchante, la deuxième était menteuse, la troisième était égoïste. Elles possédaient pourtant un point commun, un secret en quelque sorte : toutes les trois rêvaient de fuir... Le jour paraît sur Giverny. Du haut de son moulin, une vieille dame veille, surveille. Le quotidien du village, les cars de touristes... Des silhouettes et des vies. Deux femmes, en particulier, se détachent : l'une, les yeux couleur nymphéa, rêve d'amour et d'évasion ; l'autre, onze ans, ne vit déjà que pour la peinture.

Continuation of the story from the Westbourne Cottage Curse, Murder on the Beach, a Premier Class Mystery and The Louvre Legacy. Retired psychology professor John Castellanos has become caught up in a dangerous game of wits and survival. This game is run by a mysterious and ancient secret society called The Illuminés of Paris. This secret group has quietly influenced every major revolution and conflict over the past three hundred years. They have challenged John, but the reasons for this deadly call are still unclear. John's life has already been marred by several attempts on his life, all...

In Seven Dirty Words, journalist and cultural critic James Sullivan tells the story of Alternative America from the 1950s to the present, from the singular vantage point of George Carlin, the Catholic boy for whom nothing was sacred.

This audiobook celebrates the individuals who are striving to protect us in an ever-expanding technological era. Data and technology are so important to our lives that protecting people who use technology is incredibly important. The professionals working to protect children, adults, and corporations have a tough job, and this audiobook celebrates their work while advocating ways for improving cyber security services and fighting cyber crime.

Bobby Gunn has been fighting for his existence since a childhood spent living under the hand of his volatile father, and would do anything to give his seven-year-old daughter a better life—including betting on himself in the underground world of bare-knuckle boxing. In 1984, Gunn was an eleven-year-old boxer in Ontario when his father woke him in the middle of the night to fight grown men in motel parking lots for money, his old man pocketing the cash.

There are four cousins in the Morse family: perfect Kenny, the preppy West Coast lawyer; James, the shy but brilliant medical student; his seductive, hard-drinking sister Audrey; and Teresa, youngest and most fragile, haunted by the fear that she has inherited the madness that possessed her father. Their grandfather summons them to his mansion at Owl's Point. None of them have visited the family estate since they were children, when a prized painting disappeared: a self-portrait by Goya, rumored to cause madness or death upon viewing.

“Midnight Requisition 3” is a STANDALONE sequel. “Midnight Requisition” - Book One “Midnight Requisition 2: Amateur Night”- Book Two “Midnight Requisition 3: Circular Run” - Book Three “Midnight Requisition 4: Charlie Foxtrot” – Book Four A brother and sister reopen a hotel with a tainted history only to discover its past refuses to stay dead and buried. Scorpio and Kane Wayland finally realize their dream of reopening their grandfather’s old, cliffside hotel in Maine. With the hotel’s checkered past behind it, the relaunch is a dream come true. Unfortunately, ...

A mystery novel set in New Cornwall during the early 20th century. Immerse yourself in the gripping world of crime and intrigue in "Deception in New Cornwall," where the shocking murder of Julian H. Clark sends shockwaves through a seemingly serene community. Join Philo Quentin, an eccentric art aficionado and amateur detective, as he unravels a web of deceit and psychological complexities that reveals the darker sides of humanity. The narrative unfolds with a seemingly innocuous breakfast meeting interrupted by the devastating news of a murder that propels Quentin into a high-stakes ...

Glamorous international art-dealer Elizabeth Teerlinc knows a thing or two about fakes. After all, she is one herself. Her real identity, Judith Rashleigh, is buried under a layer of lies. Not to mention the corpses of the men foolish enough to get in her way. But now, caught in the murderous crossfire between a Russian Mafia boss and a corrupt Italian police detective, Judith is forced to create an even more daring work of art - a fake masterpiece she must take to the world-famous auction house where she used to be a lowly assistant and sell for $150 million.

This is a STAND-ALONE sequel. “Midnight Requisition” - Book One “Midnight Requisition 2: Amateur Night”- Book Two “Midnight Requisition 3: Circular Run” - Book Three “Midnight Requisition 4: Charlie Foxtrot” – Book Four A series of brutal murders leaves a traumatized young woman on a hunt to find a killer. When they were just babies, Scorpio and her twin brother, Kane, tragically lost their parents under mysterious circumstances. Refusing to accept his father was dead, Kane set off on a mission to find a man he’d never met. A home invasion gone wrong leaves Scorpio ...

Good friends Caroline and Laura were in daily contact. When Laura fails to return her calls, Caroline is prompted to find out what is going on. It had been a lover’s tiff; Robert informed her, that had provoked Laura to walk out on him. Caroline knew that in such circumstances her best friend would turn to her for sympathy and advice, yet she hadn’t. There had to be other factors at work. Caroline, together with Robert, begin to track Laura’s movements over the past week. They follow a trail that leads them into the dark world of illegal antiques, illicit drug dealing and money ...

A cop as well as an art historian, Marco Valoni leads a crack team of investigators in a race to solve a crime he's certain is about to shock the world: someone is planning to steal the Holy Shroud of Turin.

An hour past St. Patrick’s Day, 1990, two men dressed as Boston cops steal 13 objects worth $200m from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum near Fenway Park. Nearby, Uncle Louie, an ex-mobster turned stolen art retrieval expert, is reappropriating two paintings from a personal residence that were stolen from a museum. Both break-ins go undetected. At 8 AM, Uncle Louie receives a frantic call from his nephew Harry Bartlett, a Gardner Board member. He needs Uncle Louie’s expertise because a $20m ransom demand expires in 7 days. He hesitates to reenter the criminal world but he loves the ...

Kim Wall was a thirty-year-old Swedish freelance journalist with a rising career. Then, in the summer of 2017, she followed a story that led to an eccentric inventor in Copenhagen. Instead of writing the next days headline, she'd become one. As the bizarre events of Kim's murder unfolded, the world watched in shocked disbelief. For Kim's distraught parents, Ingrid and Joachim, it was a devastating personal struggle. In the ensuing months, day by grueling day, they had to come to terms with their loss, process the global media attention, and endure the investigation and trial.

What if a villain believes they are a hero? Our addiction to social media has created a new version of fame. And lurking beneath the surface of beautiful, polished social media accounts is a community being targeted by a killer. Ela's life is falling apart after she experiences a miscarriage. Her marriage dissolves while the rest of her life feels on hold. In order to deal with the grief and guilt from losing the pregnancy, Ela spends a lot of time on her phone. And the more time she spends online, the more her new identity begins to take shape.

Thieves of Baghdad immerses the listener into the rich culture, the colorful characters, the double-dealing, and the derring-do, to sort out once and for all what actually happened during the chaos of the Baghdad invasion, exactly how the thefts took place, and how the most notable objects were retrieved. We hear Bogdanos and his team going on raids and negotiating recoveries, blowing open safes, and mingling in the marketplaces, often encountering an assortment of rogues and villains.