Stealing Mona Lisa: Summary and book reviews of Stealing Mona Lisa by Carson Morton, plus links to an excerpt from Stealing Mona Lisa and a biography of Carson Morton.
Stealing Mona Lisa A Mystery
by Carson Morton
Hardcover: Aug 2011,
352 pages.
Paperback: Oct 2012,
352 pages.
What happens when you mix a Parisian street orphan, a hot-tempered Spanish forger, a beautiful American pickpocket, an unloved wife, and one priceless painting?
The charming Eduardo de Valfierno makes a very respectable living in Argentina fleecing the nouveau rich - they pay him to steal valuable pieces of art, and Valfierno sells them flawless forgeries instead. But when Eduardo meets the beautiful Mrs. Hart on his latest con, he takes a risk that forces him back to the city he loved and left behind - Paris. There he assembles his team of con artists for their final and most ambitious theft, one that will enable them to leave the game forever: The Mona Lisa.
But when a member of the team turns up missing, and Mr. Hart shows up in Paris, Valfierno and his crew must stay one step ahead of a relentless police inspector, endure a devastating flood, and conquer their own doubts to keep the priceless painting in play - and survive.
Based on the actual theft of the Mona Lisa from the Louvre in 1911, and published on the 100th anniversary of the crime, Stealing Mona Lisa is a sophisticated, engaging caper, complete with a richly imagined group of con artists and a historical mystery that will keep you guessing until the very end.
Stealing Mona Lisa - a debut novel that effectively draws from the public's fascination with the underworld - combines elements of both suave manipulation and occasional humor. Like several Hollywood plots, it also aligns with a criminal perspective from the beginning, states its motives plainly, and differs from traditional whodunits that are punctuated by red herrings and that rely on revelations. (Reviewed by Karen Rigby).
New York Journal of Books
The visual writing is one of the novel's greatest strengths. Well-crafted, beautifully written, and engaging mystery. The pacing is superb... Carson Morton is, quite frankly, a masterful storyteller.
Publishers Weekly
Morton smoothly blends fact and fiction while evocatively exploring the era's seamy underbelly.
Booklist
Based on the actual theft of the Mona Lisa in 1911, Morton's first novel is a canny heist story with fine characterizations and skillful plotting, and it isn't hurt one bit by all the shimmering Parisian ambience. This entertaining caper may leave readers wondering about the authenticity of the art on the museum walls.
Library Journal
Starred Review. Great characters, a captivating tale, and vivid descriptions of old Paris make this debut a pleasurable read.
Kirkus Reviews
Starred Review. Like La Joconde, Carson's debut novel is set in an elegant frame - a newspaper reporter wrests the amazing story from a dying Valfierno - that still isn’t as finely crafted as what lies inside.
Noah Charney, author of The Art Thief and Stealing the Mystic Lamb
An evocative and engaging reworking of the famous Valfierno myth and the theft of the world's most famous painting. Morton writes beautifully and transports us to an Art Deco world of intriguing criminals.
Frank W. Abagnale, New York Times bestselling author of Catch Me If You Can
An intriguing and captivating story about a great scam with a twist in the world of con artists, art forgery and mystery.
An early 16th century oil painting by Leonardo da Vinci, The Mona Lisa is believed to have been created between 1503-1507 in Florence (though it is rumored that da Vinci did not actually complete it until 1519, just before his death in France). The painting is probably inspired by Lisa Gherardini, the wife of an Italian merchant. In 2005, a scholar at the University of Heidelberg, Dr. Armin Schlechter, discovered a manuscript containing a marginal note written by a Florentine chancellery official, Agostino Vespucci, which mentions Lisa - helping to confirm the subject's identity as well as the dates of the work.
Portraiture had existed prior to da Vinci's famous painting, but The Mona Lisa stands out for its masterful sense of composition and balance, the intimacy of the subject, and the handling of figure, depth, and foreground. The sfumato technique (from the Latin fumare, "to smoke"), in...
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(905 words).
Noah Charney, author of The Art Thief and Stealing the Mystic Lamb
Portraiture had existed prior to da Vinci's famous painting, but The Mona Lisa stands out for its masterful sense of composition and balance, the intimacy of the subject, and the handling of figure, depth, and foreground. The sfumato technique (from the Latin fumare, "to smoke"), in...
