This is a great example of non-fiction that reads like a really good novel. The story of the quirky Scotland Yard Art Squad detective Charley Hill and his recovery of Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” from the thieves who stole it from Norway’s national museum in 1994, it’s also a good study of the character of the detective and of the romantic myths and seedy realities of the world of international art thieves. As the main story unfolds, Dolnick freely diverts the narrative to accounts, not only of other capers Hill solved, but of famous art thefts of the past. This is partly a technique to prolong the suspense of the main narrative, partly to flesh out the character of this very interesting man, and partly to fill in the background of a subject about which public misconceptions abound. A lot of attention, for instance, is paid to the persistent myth of the shadowy billionaire hiring thieves to steal for his private collection, a myth Hill and others in his field can’t scoff at enough but have to take seriously because it is a big part of why so many crooks think they can steal famous and valuable paintings on spec and find a buyer for them later.

Good stuff!