Interview

Edward Dolnick talks about the world of art and art heists, and about Charley Hill, the fascinating, real-life art detective he profiles in The Rescue Artist.

Q: It is easy to see how you would have become so fascinated by Charles Hill. Did you admire him? Were you ever afraid of him, or for him?

A: I did come to admire Charley Hill. He's a principled man in a rough business. But what a writer wants in a subject isn't sterling character - it's depth, complexity, contradiction. You want someone you know is going to surprise you, because you're going to be spending every day together for a couple of years. Not face-to-face time, but time thinking and writing and knocking heads. I was never afraid of Charley, but it's hard not to be afraid for him at times. He likes taking chances, and his world is not a video game.

Q: What is your own relationship to great art? What kind of importance do you feel that it holds in the world? Do you ever feel that the value of these paintings is over-inflated?

A: I'm an art-lover but a long, long way from an expert. Is great art important? It's vastly important, although it's hard to talk about why that is without sounding silly. Why does music move us? How can daubs of color smeared on a square of canvas three centuries ago lift our spirits? We know it happens, but we don't know why. We can name the mystery but we cannot...