The Gardner Heist by Ulrich Boser

There is a lot of information out there on the Gardner theft!

I was hoping that this book might be a nice complete reading about the heist, the suspects and all of the theories, but it is not. The crime happened over 20 years ago, and it seems that new developments and thoughts pop up all of the time.

This is a great place to start though.

If you are not familiar with the incident, some criminals dressed as cops went to the Gardner Museum late one night in 1990. They convinced a guard to let them inside. Once in, they tied up the two security guards, and take off with several priceless works of art.

Today, the estimated value of the works stolen is as high as $500 million and sometimes even $600 million.

Author Ulrich Boser tracks down various people involved in the case, including an independent detective who was once obsessed with the case, a shady antique dealer who claims knowledge of the theft, and he even identifies two people that he feels may be the actual thieves. One died and one is in jail for other crimes.

The author does trade a couple of phone calls with one of the guards who was on duty that night. That guard had put in his notice before the incident, and he is a bit elusive in general. The exchanges are strange to say the least.

If you go to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum today, the places where the works once were are vacant. Ms. Gardner did not want her collection altered (no works were to be bought or sold in the collection) so much of the museum is unchanged.

Whenever any of the stolen works are recovered (and lets hope it does happen at some point) it will be an exciting time for the museum.

I guess, that's a big reason that this book seems a bit unfinished and incomplete. Hopefully, Boser can add an updated last chapter to his book. Still, until the mystery is solved, this is an exciting book about the case!