The Gardner Heist: The True Story of the World’s Largest Unsolved Art Theft by Ulrich Boser

Boser’s approach to telling the story of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist is just right. He sets the scene of the night of the crime with all the known details in place and adding in all the clues the experts have. This gives the reader the feeling of an insider, getting our interest piqued and developing our attachment to the artwork.

Released February 24, 2009

Boser’s approach to telling the story of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist is just right. He sets the scene of the night of the crime with all the known details in place and adding in all the clues the experts have. This gives the reader the feeling of an insider, getting our interest piqued and developing our attachment to the artwork.

He weaves in the museum background, a brief history of the world of art theft and museum security standards and glimpses of the adventures of artwork once it’s on the lam. Boser manages to make it both educational and exciting – all the background provided makes the details of the Gardner heist more interesting.

Toward the end of the book, Boser makes the ludicrous decision to solve the crime on his own.  His attempt, which mostly consisted of talking to untrustworthy “connections” and scoping out Irish bars for Whitey Bulger, came off as a childish foray into art crime superhero-ism. Still, it demonstrated how wrapped up an author can get in the story being researched.

If you are an art lover, if you enjoy a real-life unsolved mysteries, you are definitely going to enjoy this book.   — Sara Wedell, Adult Services Librarian

Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey by Trenton Lee Stewart

Released May 2008

Recommended for ages 10-14

Trenton Lee Stewart’s second novel about Reynie, Sticky, Kate, and Constance, the four young pals of the Mysterious Benedict Society, was just as fun, exciting, and fast-paced as the first one. Starting “Perilous Journey” was like getting together with old friends; the first book set up the characters so well you felt like you knew them, so it was great fun jumping back into their lives again. Also, having learned Constance’s big secret in the first book, I seemed to love and appreciate her even more this time around. As in the first book, this story takes the Benedict Society on a dangerous adventure, where they follow clues and solve riddles. This time they have to save Mr. Benedict and Number Two from the evil Mr. Curtain. Any reader who loved “The Mysterious Benedict Society” will certainly eat this one up, and those who haven’t read the first novel should rush out and get it before reading this one – this series is not to be missed. There’s a third installment coming this fall.  – Becky Fermanich, Youth Services Librarian

The Lost City of Z by David Grann

Release date: February 24, 2009

Colonel Percy Harrison Fawcett was a classic Victorian gentleman explorer. He was built to explore the Amazon – proving immune to malaria and the various other tropical fevers the plague Westerners there. He takes small parties carrying limited equipment, he makes friends with the Indians and he can live off the land. He never says die. He’s awesome.

He’s also, well, a little nuts. Not so much in the beginning, but after WWI, he starts to feel his age a little more, it’s harder to get funding and a millionaire rival begins exploring roughly the same region of the jungle as Fawcett. He becomes more reliant on spiritualism and more obsessed with the idea of proving his theory of Z, an El Dorado-like city deep in the Amazon.

His expeditions, his disappearance and the multitude of failed investigations and missions to find him make for great storytelling. Author Grann does a fine job of combing through his history, connecting with his relatives and parceling out the interesting details throughout the book. I found Grann’s own trip into the Amazon a little unsatisfying – it also attempts to tie up the mystery of Z a little too neatly.

Neat and tidy as it may be, I do like the explanation of Z and the archeological evidence and expertise behind it. It means Fawcett wasn’t going entirely mad when he pored over old legends of El Dorado, but I think it does mean that he never, never would have been able to identify what was left as what he was looking for, either. — Sara Wedell, Adult Services Librarian

The Gecko & Sticky: Villain’s Lair by Wendelin Van Draanen

Released February 2009

“A wittily offbeat and action-packed adventure. Readers are immediately plunked into the action as Dave and his talking gecko, Sticky, make their way to Damien Black’s creepy mansion through a bat-infested, oozing cave. They are after the magical ingots, which, paired with a wristband already in their possession, give the wearer various amazing powers. Black is an old-fashioned villain, with a ‘Bwaa-ha-ha-ha-ha!’ sense of devilishness, and things get hairy when Dave and Sticky—a reformed (?) thief formerly in Black’s employ—are trapped in Black’s Pit of Doom. The two narrowly escape with one ingot, the one that provides wall-walking abilities, with Black and his bumbling cohorts in pursuit—all in the first half. The second half is less of a romp, as the villains look for Dave and mistake another boy for him. By tale’s end Sticky and Dave learn to trust each other, and, of course, the power of good prevails over evil. A dastardly good read that benefits from its quirky drawings and may well become a can’t-wait-for-the-next-one series.”  –Kirkus Reviews

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

Released: September 16, 2008

Amazon Best of the Month, September 2008: Once you start The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, there’s no turning back. This debut thriller–the first in a trilogy from the late Stieg Larsson–is a serious page-turner rivaling the best of Charlie Huston and Michael Connelly.

Mikael Blomkvist, a once-respected financial journalist, watches his professional life rapidly crumble around him. Prospects appear bleak until an unexpected (and unsettling) offer to resurrect his name is extended by an old-school titan of Swedish industry. The catch–and there’s always a catch–is that Blomkvist must first spend a year researching a mysterious disappearance that has remained unsolved for nearly four decades. With few other options, he accepts and enlists the help of investigator Lisbeth Salander, a misunderstood genius with a cache of authority issues.

Little is as it seems in Larsson’s novel, but there is at least one constant: you really don’t want to mess with the girl with the dragon tattoo.  — Amazon.com

Maze of Bones by Rick Riordan

Released Sept. 9, 2008

“Will The 39 Clues be the next Webkinz—creating an online frenzy, this time with a literary tie-in instead of stuffed animals? Scholastic hopes so, especially now that the Harry Potter publishing phenomenon has ended. Time will tell, but the publisher may well be onto something big, with a project that should appeal to readers, gamers and collectors.

The 39 Clues series includes 10 books, each by a different well-known author (such as Gordon Korman and Jude Watson), with a new one coming out every two or three months. The series presents a giant mystery that readers must try to decipher, using trading cards and a website, along with the books. Each book also contains six cards, and readers can buy additional clue-laden packs (350 cards in all). As for the jackpot, Scholastic will provide $100,000 in cash and prizes, some awarded for skill and others as part of a sweepstakes.

The bottom line is that the first book [Maze of Bones] is quite good—full of suspense, humor, likable characters and a riveting plot. Rick Riordan, the wildly successful author of the Percy Jackson series, delivers an intricate web of suspense, a sort of Da Vinci Code for kids (without the religious overtones).

Amy and Dan Cahill are orphans who live with their not-so-nice aunt. Their world falls apart with the death of their beloved (and wealthy) grandmother, Grace. At the funeral, the lawyer calls together her many heirs in the mansion’s Great Hall and offers them each a choice: take a one-million-dollar inheritance and leave, or, instead of money, be given the first of 39 clues. The clue, the lawyer explains, “might lead you to the most important treasure in the world and make you powerful beyond belief.” Of course, Amy and Dan take a clue, and the action begins. Other family members take the clue too, so the race is on. As Dan and Amy try to piece the puzzle pieces together, they travel the world and learn a bit of history too.”  –BookPage

The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff

Released August 5, 2008

“This exquisite tour de force explores the dark roots of polygamy and its modern-day fruit in a renegade cult…Ebershoff (The Danish Girl) brilliantly blends a haunting fictional narrative by Ann Eliza Young, the real-life 19th “rebel” wife of Mormon leader Brigham Young, with the equally compelling contemporary narrative of fictional Jordan Scott, a 20-year-old gay man…With the topic of plural marriage and its shattering impact on women and powerless children in today’s headlines, this novel is essential reading for anyone seeking understanding of the subject.” Publishers Weekly