Into the pantheon of great art heist stories leaps The Last Mona Lisa, Jonathan Santlofer's novel of intrigue, romance and murder. It's set in Florence, Paris and New York and centered on a cast of art scholars, forgers and--those most nefarious of public servants--librarians.
One day, New Yorker Luke Perrone receives a curious e-mail from Italy: before his "sudden death," a professor requested that Luke be contacted about a recent discovery--"what may have been your great-grandfather's journal," which is now at Florence's Laurentian Library. Luke, a painter and assistant art professor, has spent two decades researching Vincent Peruggia, "my family's most infamous criminal," the man behind the 1911 theft of the Mona Lisa from the Louvre. Luke is only too happy to cross the pond and hunker down at the library, unaware that at Interpol headquarters in Lyon, a criminal intelligence analyst has him under communication surveillance. Like Luke, the analyst is obsessed with Peruggia, especially the matter of whether the painting that was returned to the Louvre two years after the Mona Lisa's theft is a fake.
Based on actual events, The Last Mona Lisa is an unflaggingly cinematic caper pulled off with brio by a pro: Santlofer (The Death Artist; The Widower's Notebook) has a seasoned thriller writer's mastery of plotting and pacing. While he's at it, Santlofer uses his chops as an artist to make characters sound knowledgeable about art technique and history, especially regarding Leonardo's painting of the world's most enigmatic smiler. --Nell Beram, author and freelance writer