Original Booklists: = Nazi Art Theft Crime Novels

Adult=20 Fiction |
Children= 's=20 Fiction |
YA = Fiction |=20
Non-Fiction=

Nazi Art Thefts: Crime Novels

Mysteries, suspense novels, thrillers, and crime novels and stories = about the=20 misappropriating, looting, plundering, hiding, selling, and taking of = art and=20 antiquities by Nazi party members and by others during World War II, as = well as=20 novels and stories about the hiding and preserving of art by various = individuals=20 and groups during the war. This list was compiled primarily by a former=20 librarian living in Pennsylvania, with additions by others, including = members of=20 Fiction-L and DorothyL during Dec. 2005.

Find these titles at your local library or through ABEbooks, AddALL, and other used and = out-of-print book=20 dealers.

Some descriptions are taken verbatim, or in essence, from review = sources such=20 as Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, Booklist, and Library Journal, and from=20 booksellers' descriptions.

EVELYN ANTHONY

The Poellenberg Inheritance (1972): Thriller. The = daughter of=20 an SS general finds life in jeopardy because her father was the only = person=20 who knew the location of a priceless masterpiece that disappeared = during WWII.=20

JEFFREY ARCHER

A Matter of Honor (1987): When Adam Scott opens the = yellowed=20 envelope bequeathed to him in his father's will, he learns of the = secret that=20 shadowed his father's military career, reaching back to the Nazi = plunder of=20 Europe. In the deepest vault of a Swiss bank, Scott discovers a = priceless=20 icon, the key to a shocking document that could forever change the = balance of=20 power between America and the Soviet Union.

EVELYN BERCKMAN

The Evil of Time (1954): Keith Elgin of the Art = Reparations=20 Commission in Germany is sent to the ancient castle of Drachensgrab = (Dragon's=20 Grave) in a final attempt to recover the paintings and other loot that = the=20 Nazis had hidden there.

STEVE BERRY

The Amber Room (2004): When Judge Rachel Cutler's = father dies=20 under suspicious circumstances, his daughter begins investigating a=20 decades-old secret: the Amber Room, an exquisite treasure that was=20 appropriated by the Nazis when they invaded the Soviet Union. Rachel = and her=20 ex-husband, Paul, travel to Germany, to learn why her father died and = to find=20 the truth about the Amber Room. Based very loosely on historical = events.=20

DOUGLAS BOYD

The Fiddler and The Ferret (1997): Involves art = theft,=20 kidnapping and a background that goes back to Nazi-occupied Paris. = When his=20 old violin teacher is murdered, an international star of the concert = platform=20 hires a man he was brought up to hate -- an MI5 veteran -- to track = down the=20 killer.

T. DAVID BUNN

The Amber Room (1992): From their high-priced London = antique=20 shop, Alexander Kantor and Jeffrey Sinclair have made deep contacts = into the=20 secret treasure troves of Europe, particularly the former Eastern Bloc = nations. They are pulled into a trail of intrigue and cover-ups that = surround=20 the Amber Room. A novel of deception and danger. (Sequel to = Florian's=20 Gate).

LILLIAN STEWART CARL

Garden of Thorns (1992): Gothic/Romantic suspense. = Mark and=20 Hilary get back together in Fort Worth, Texas. He's excavating a = mysterious=20 turn of the century house, she's working at an art gallery on Coburg = treasures=20 recovered from the Nazis. Soon their jobs intersect, as they both run = afoul of=20 a prominent local family who resorts to murder to keep its skeletons = in its=20 closets.

DAVID ADAMS CLEVELAND

With a Gemlike Flame: A Novel of Venice and a Lost=20 Masterpiece (2001): When Renaissance scholar and art dealer = Jordan=20 Brooks journeys to Venice to view a masterpiece believed to have been=20 destroyed by the Nazis, he must discover if the painting is a fake or = the=20 original, which leads him to his former teacher and a group of corrupt = art=20 dealers.

FRANKLIN COEN

The Plunderers (1980): Suspense novel set in = Nazi-occupied=20 Paris, of love and greed centered on the obsessive seizure of France's = art=20 heritage.

ROBERTSON DAVIES

What's Bred in the Bone (1985): Fictional biography. = Through=20 two supernatural beings, art collector Francis Cornish's life is = exposed: an=20 art expert, a forger, a collector of international renown, a hero = involved in=20 secret intelligence work. (Sequel to The Rebel Angels and = The Lyre of Orpheus)

J. MADISON DAVIS

The Van Gogh Conspiracy (2005): The search for = answers takes=20 Esther and Henson on a life-and-death odyssey through the halls of = fine art,=20 European capitals, and a spider web of blackmail and deceit that = encompasses=20 former Nazi officers running a clandestine operation to ship stolen = artworks=20 around the world.

DEBRA DEAN

The Madonnas of Leningrad (2006): Debut novel. Marina = was a=20 guide at Leningrad's Hermitage Museum. In the autumn of 1941, she and = her=20 colleagues were set the task of taking objects d'art out of the grand=20 galleries, storing them safely against the German bombardment, = invasion and=20 looting. This is a novel about one woman's struggle to preserve an = artistic=20 heritage from the horrors and destruction of World War II.

MAURICE DEKOBRA

The Golden Eyed Venus (1963): Struggle for possession = of a=20 secret haul of Nazi loot.

AARON ELKINS

A Deceptive Clarity (1987): The assistant curator of = art at=20 the San Francisco Museum travels to Berlin to set up an exhibit of art = recovered from the Nazis after WWII, until his aristocratic boss gets=20 murdered.=20
Loot (1999): Suspense novel featuring ex-curator Ben = Revere.=20 Half a century after a truck laden with masterpieces stolen by the = Nazis=20 disappeared in an Austrian salt mine in a snowstorm, one of the = paintings=20 shows up in a seedy Boston pawnshop. Starred review from Boklist, = recommended=20 by the others.=20
Turncoat (2002): Set in the Kennedy Era, features=20 USAF-veteran Pete Simmons searching for his missing French wife in a = Europe=20 still roiled with hatred and violence from WWII. A stand-alone = thriller that=20 probes wartime guilt from multiple angles.

LINDA FAIRSTEIN

Cold Hit (2000): Two real-life felonies -- the Nazi = looting=20 of Russia's legendary Amber Room, and the 1990 heist at Boston's = Isabella=20 Gardner museum -- are sidelines to this crime novel about sex crimes = and=20 murder, set in NYC.

DAN FESPERMAN

Lie in the Dark (2000): Crime novel set during the = Bosnian=20 conflict in the 1990s. Homicide detective Vlado Petric in Sarajevo = unravels=20 the crime surrounding the death of a government worker. What looks = like a=20 sniper death is actually much more; the pillaging of art treasures = during the=20 Second World war is central to the plot.

TIMOTHY FINDLEY

Famous Last Words (1982): Controversial novel that's=20 part-horror story, part philosophical meditation on art and good and = evil,=20 featuring the Duke and Duchess of Windsor as fascist sympathisers = during WWII.=20 (Note: Not sure how much, if any, actual art theft figures in the = book.)=20

MARTIN FINE

The Lost Stradivarius (2006): Entombed with its = creator for=20 almost 200 years, the lost Stradivarius violin is discovered, only to = be lost=20 again, until it surfaces in Nazi-occupied Europe, where it is hidden = away. Bad=20 luck has befallen everyone who has possessed it, and a quirk of fate = draws a=20 brilliant young British virtuoso into the desperate search to recover = the lost=20 violin. This intoxicating thriller weaves effortlessly between = countries,=20 encompassing the world of classical music, stolen art, and historical = fact.=20

ALEXANDER FULLERTON

The Aphrodite Cargo (1985): An action-packed = thriller. Mike=20 Clinker, a Chicago journalist, has flown to his beaten father's = bedside in=20 London and pieces together a fragmented tale of Nazi loot shipped out = of=20 Russia forty years ago, intercepted and mislaid. When Mike attempts to = clear=20 the matter up, he is also hunted.

JONATHAN GASH

The Ten Word Game (2004): 22nd Lovejoy novel. British = rogue/antiques expert Lovejoy is to visit Leningrad's Hermitage Museum = to=20 allegedly abscond with a few masters. However, as he is pampered from=20 Amsterdam to Oslo, and finally Leningrad, he learns the true caper: to = steal=20 the renowned wall panels of the Amber Room.

HARRIS GREENE

Canceled Accounts (1972): 'Who would suspect an old = Jew,=20 survivor of German concentration camps, of being in league with = O.D.E.S.S.A.,=20 the organization of ex-SS members? Who could imagine that the numbered = accounts he controlled in Swiss banks contained millions of = francs-once the=20 property of murdered Jews?'

JONATHAN HARRIS

Seizing Amber (2001): Inspired by The Maltese=20 Falcon, this novel follows a high stakes quest for one of the = world's=20 most valuable treasures, the Amber Room.

ROBERT HARRIS

Fatherland (1992): Crime thriller/alternate history, = set 25=20 years after Germany has won WWII. Joseph Kennedy is U.S. president, = Adolph=20 Hitler is about to turn 75. Police investigator Xavier March = investigates the=20 apparent suicide of a prominent Nazi, which leads him to discover = other=20 suicides, accidental deaths, a numbered vault in Zurich, and a = beautiful=20 American reporter, and eventally the pattern behind the deaths. He = learns=20 through incriminating papers that the Holocaust actually happened.=20 Well-reviewed. (Filmed in Prague and Berlin as an HBO original movie, = with=20 Rutger Hauer and Miranda Richardson.)

APRIL HENRY

Circles of Confusion (1999): When Oregon DMV = employee/sleuth=20 Claire Montrose inherits a beautiful small painting of a woman sitting = at a=20 table that looks as if it might be valuable, she suspects the artwork = might be=20 one of many masterpieces that disappeared in Europe during WWII. She = has it=20 appraised in New York, where an expert tells her that the painting is = a=20 forgery, but at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a handsome artist says = that=20 the canvas may be an authentic Vermeer. Attempts to steal the painting = convince Claire that the artist may be right. First in the series; = each=20 chapter ends with a license plate to be deciphered.

PHILIP HOOK

Stonebreakers (1994): A novel constructed out of the = presumed=20 destruction of a painting by Courbet (i.e. 'The Stonebreakers') in = Dresden at=20 the end of the war.=20
The Island of the Dead (1995): 'The Island of the = Dead' is a=20 disturbing painting, but that cannot be the only reason for its = mutilation=20 when it goes on view in a public gallery.=20
Soldier in the Wheatfield (1999): Parnello Moran can = see=20 which paintings have hidden talent or are by major masters. He buys a = painting=20 of a German landscape, and it is immediately stolen from him. As he = sets out=20 to get it back, he finds all the recent owners have met with violent = deaths.=20
An Innocent Eye (2000): A man is murdered in a London = hotel=20 room, and the only clue is a Polaroid of Monet's landscape in his = pocket.=20 British journalist Daniel Stern recognizes the connection. The = unfolding plot=20 interweaves two story-lines: the tracking down of a Monet painting,=20 misappropriated in occupied Paris in 1940, and corruption within the = Vatican.=20

A.E. HOTCHNER

The Man Who Lived at the Ritz (1981): Thriller about = an art=20 historian who lives at the Ritz in Paris. The art treasures of Paris = are the=20 prize in this tale of intrigue and suspense, set in Nazi-occupied = Paris and=20 featuring a cast of characters including Joseph Goebbels, Hermann = Goerring,=20 Coco Chanel, Lindbergh, and Hemingway.

RICHARD HUGO

Last Judgment (1988): Among other plots, a special = Nazi unit=20 expropriates art works in Poland and the SAS (a secret = counter-terrorist=20 organisation) tries to uncover a terrorist plot that might sabotage = high-level=20 meetings between NATO scientists. The Irish Republican Army, Marxists = and=20 denizens of the London art world also feature.

RUSSELL JAMES

Painting in the Dark (2001): The reclusive = octogenarian=20 sister of a painter of Hitler's inner circle tries to keep notorious = paintings=20 from the reach of an unscrupulous art dealer.

J. ROBERT JANES

Mannequin (1999): 4th in crime series. Set in 1940s Europe, = features=20 Inspectors Jean-Louis St-Cyr of the French Surete and Hermann Kohler = of the=20 Gestapo. Top Nazi Hermann Goering's in Paris on an art-looting mission = that=20 crosses paths with an investigation by Kohler and St-Cyr into the = murders of=20 several young women who answered an ad to become fashion models. =

EDWARD I. KOCH and WENDY CORSI STAUB

The Senator must die (1998): An attack on Ed Koch, = U.S.=20 Senator Anson Hubbard, and his bodyguards -- linked to the Senator's = support=20 of the research into the Nazi gold in Swiss bank accounts -- forces = the mayor=20 into a race against time to uncover the conspiracy in order to save = the=20 Senator's life

ROCHELLE KRICH

Blood Money (2000): A murder investigation into the=20 suspicious death of a Holocaust survivor. Elements include Swiss bank=20 accounts, an art collection that may contain stolen paintings, a = philanthropic=20 organization dedicated to helping Holocaust survivors reclaim their = assets but=20 which seems to be implicated in the present-day murder of aging, = lonely=20 Holocaust survivors. Police procedural featuring Los Angeles homicide=20 detective Jessica Drake.

JANE LANGTON

The Thief of Venice (1999): 14th in Homer Kelly = series; set=20 in Venice. Homer settles in to study Renaissance manuscripts, and Mary = sets=20 out, guidebook in hand, to see the city, where she becomes involved = with a=20 handsome doctor, who turns out to be a particularly vile murderer. The = tangled=20 plot jumps between the personal and spiritual problems of the Kellys' = host, a=20 librarian, and the discovery of art treasures hidden by Venetian Jews = during=20 World War II.

DONNA LEON

Wilful Behavior (2002): Commissario Brunetti is drawn = into=20 secrets dating back to WWII by the murder of a young girl.

ROBERT S. LEVINSON

Hot Paint (2002): A gift of eleven Warhol silk = screens=20 exposes actress Stevie Marriner and her L.A. newspaper columnist = ex-husband=20 Neil to an art underground that will murder to acquire stolen Nazi art = treasures. Fast-paced thriller.

PAUL LINDSAY

The Fuhrer's Reserve: A Novel of the FBI (2000):=20 Thriller/suspense. Agent Taz Fallon is charged with the dangerous = mission of=20 locating Hitler's priceless, missing art treasures before a band of = neo-Nazis=20 can sell them to benefit a neofascist regime. Another description: A = lost=20 painting (a rare Alfred Sisley) that surfaces at an auction is key to=20 discovering a cache of paintings stolen by Herman Goering. The focus = is on how=20 the Nazis stole art from Jewish collectors, and how much of that = stolen art=20 was later sold to unscrupulous dealers who made fortunes. = Well-reviewed by=20 Kirkus and Booklist.

ELIZABETH LOWELL

Amber Beach (1997): Romantic suspense. When her = brother Kyle=20 vanishes, along with a fortune in stolen amber, Honor Donovan settles = into his=20 cottage in the San Juan Islands of the Pacific Northwest and hires = fishing=20 guide Jake Mallory to help her search for him. What Jake doesn't want = Honor to=20 know is that, until recently, he brokered amber deals for Donovan=20 International, and is now suspected by them of having stolen the = missing=20 amber, along with a priceless Russian antiquity called the Amber Room. =

GAYLE LYNDS

Mosaic (1999): Romantic suspense. Concert pianist = Julia=20 Austrian's intermittent blindness is one of the mysteries woven = through this=20 book, which focuses on Nazi theft of artifacts from the fabled Amber = Room in=20 one of Russia's imperial palaces at the end of World War II. Julia and = Sam=20 Keeline, a disillusioned CIA agent, team up.

HELEN MACINNES

Pray For a Brave Heart (1955): Set against the = breathtaking=20 mountain backdrop of Switzerland, this novel of international intrigue = unfolds=20 the powerful story of a young American's search for a priceless cache = of=20 hidden Nazi loot. (Another book, Above Suspicion (1942), = is a=20 story of Nazi Germany, the Gestapo, and the underground railroad. It = was made=20 into a film starring Fred MacMurray and Joan Crawford.)

ADRIAN MATHEWS

The Apothecary's House (2005): When an old woman = storms into=20 the Rijks Museum demanding the return of her painting, archivist Ruth = Braams=20 cannot quell her curiosity. Ruth delves into the history of the piece = of=20 looted Nazi art and discovers an enigmatic picture with a disturbing = wartime=20 provenance.

FRANK MCDONALD

Provenance (1979): Story of a hoard of art = masterpieces=20 stolen by the Nazis during World War II -- those who collected the = paintings,=20 stole them, and now propose to sell them. Spans 1895 to 1979 and Paris = to New=20 York.

EARL MERKEL

Dirty Fire (2003). Crime novel in series. Former = Chicago cop,=20 now fire marshall, John Davey is helping an old colleague investigate = the=20 suspicious death of a wealthy art collector who burned to death in his = opulent=20 North Shore mansion. Soon his inquires lead to billions of dollars in = artwork=20 that disappeared during the holocaust.

NEIL OLSON

The Icon (2005): Thriller. In 1944 a group of Greek = partisans=20 are hiding from the Germans near the village of Katarini. A plan to = trade a=20 painted icon for some weapons goes awry, and an ancient Byzantine icon = disappears, to resurface 56 years later on the wall of a private = chapel in the=20 New York City home of a Swiss banker named Kessler. After Kessler = dies, the=20 Greek Orthodox Church, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, an elderly = Greek=20 gangster and other mysterious characters vie to acquire the icon, =

PATRICK PARKER, USA-Ret.

Treasures of the Fourth Reich (2005): Dix and Maria = Connor=20 face down a deadly network trafficking in stolen art. Dix is a retired = lieutenant colonel who served with NATO, Maria an art historian who = fought=20 against Noriega's regime. Together they expose a plot with origins in = the Nazi=20 looting of a Titan, a Bruegel, and a panel from the Amber Room, from = European=20 museums and families during World War II.

IAIN PEARS

The Last Judgment (1993): Hired to deliver a painting = from a=20 Parisian art dealer to a client in Rome, British art historian and = amateur=20 sleuth Jonathan Argyll finds himself involved in a double murder and = begins a=20 probe that uncovers a secret hidden since World War II.

LEWIS PERDUE

Daughter of God (2000): The Nazi plunder of Europe's = art and=20 antiquities during WWII sets the stage for a thriller spun around a = religious=20 cover-up that could topple the Vatican and crush Western religion. A = dying,=20 repentant Nazi, Willi Max, calls renowned American art = broker/historian Zoe=20 Ridgeway, to Switzerland, where he reveals his cache of looted = treasure,=20 hiring her to catalogue and return it to the owners or heirs. Starred = review=20 from Booklist, good review from PW.

ELIZABETH PETERS

Trojan Gold (1987): Art historian Vicky Bliss returns = in=20 search of Schliemann's famous discovery, gone missing since the fall = of=20 Berlin, the fabulous gold of Troy. The arrival of a bloodstained = envelope=20 sparks a fascinating treasure hunt and a surprising international = academic=20 reunion at a posh ski resort somewhere in Southern Germany.

J. C. POLLOCK

Goering?s List (1993): 'Goering's list' names current = owners=20 of many art treasures missing since World War II. When a former SS man = dies,=20 he leaves the list to his son, a former member of the Stasi and now a=20 most-wanted terrorist known as Dieter, who puts the information to use = funding=20 operations for his secret organization, planning and executing daring = art=20 robberies in New York and Britain, murdering the current art owners. = The CIA=20 calls on renegade counter-terrorist Mike Semko to team up with a = beautiful=20 Israeli agent to track down Dieter.

JOE POYER

The Balkan Assignment (1971): International caper = sparked by=20 $1,000,000 worth of blood-soaked Nazi loot, buried for 30 years in a = forgotten=20 island cave off Yugoslavia.

MICHAEL PYE

The Pieces from Berlin (2003): Inspired by a true = story from=20 secret criminal files, about a woman who made her fortune trafficking = stolen=20 art in wartime Berlin and the price other people paid for her crimes =

PIERS PAUL READ

Patriot in Berlin (1995): aka The = Patriot. A=20 blatant present day art heist appears to mirror the looting of art = treasures=20 during World War II. America art historian Francesca McDermott arrives = in=20 Berlin following the murder of a Russian couple and the disappearance = of a=20 rogue KGB agent.

ROBERT L. RODIN

Articles of Faith (1998): Thiller about Nazis' theft = of art=20 treasures, Swiss fencing of Nazi gold, the German clergy's = accommodation of=20 Hitler, and a father-son relationship. Not well reviewed by PW, LJ, or = Kirkus.=20

LUIS SEPULVEDA

The Name of a Bullfighter (1996): Translated from the = Spanish=20 by Suzanne Ruta. During WW II, two German soldiers steal a collection = of=20 priceless gold coins. One escapes to Chile, where he buries the coins; = the=20 other gets caught and ends up living in East Germany. Fifty years = later, after=20 the fall of the Berlin wall, the coins are hot again, sought after by = Juan=20 Belmonte, a political exile from Chile living in Hamburg, and Frank = Galinsky,=20 an ex-Stasi agent. Well-reviewed by Booklist.

DANIEL SILVA

The English Assassin (2003): Gabriel Allon, painting = restorer=20 and reluctant Israeli spy, is assigned to Switzerland to meet with a = man who=20 has a painting to be restored and also has requested a meeting with = Israeli=20 intelligence. When Gabriel arrives, he finds the client dead and = himself=20 involved in a 50-year-old mystery involving Nazi art theft from World = War II.=20 (Another book featuring Allon, The Confessor (2003), = explores=20 Vatican collaboration with the Nazis.)

LOREN SINGER

Making Good (1991): An inventory of Nazi loot leads = to a=20 mysterious character, Hamplemann, listed in Nazi records as the owner = of=20 paintings, first editions, rare stamps, coins -- hundreds of thousands = of=20 dollars worth of antiques and collectibles. Is he a Nazi who stole a = fortune,=20 a con man, or a front for someone even more powerful?

DOUGLAS SKEGGS

The Estuary Pilgrim (1989): A Monet that was once a = treasure=20 of Nazi Germany becomes the center of a violent and mysterious = international=20 art fraud scandal when the painting, supposedly destroyed during World = War II,=20 resurfaces. Looks at how a lost painting is authenticated.

TAYLOR SMITH

Deadly Grace (2001): While on the trail of Jillian = Meade,=20 suspected of brutally murdering three veterans of the anti-Nazi = underground,=20 federal agent Alex Cruz uncovers an extraordinary tale of a wartime = heist of=20 Nazi gold and betrayal.

NEAL STEPHENSON

Cryptonomicon (2002): Lengthy, detailed = techno-thriller. An=20 army corporal and a cryptanalysis specialist cross paths during WWII = as they=20 fight to mislead and outfox their Nazi counterparts. Skip ahead = decades, when=20 these two and the grandson of one of the men, himself the founding = member of=20 an internet bank, learn of a plot to hide billions in Japanese and = Nazi gold=20 at the end of WWII and trace a path to find it.

WADE STEVENSON and BARBARA TEEL

The Salzdorf Wellspring (2000): Thriller. Mid-1950s = America=20 was a time of peace and hope, while much of Europe was still = recovering from=20 the horrors and destruction of WWII. Old Masters paintings and other = priceless=20 objets d'art were stolen from victims of the Reich and secretly stored = in=20 mines and vaults all over Germany. Many of those hiding places were = discovered=20 after the war, but many remain hidden --even today. One in particular, = the=20 Salzdorf Wellspring, was the richest and most magnificent of them = all....=20

HEATHER TERRELL

The Chrysalis (2007): Debut novel. Hard-driving = Manhattan=20 attorney Mara Coyne is confronted by the case of her career when she = is asked=20 to defend a prestigious auction house against claims that a mysterious = Dutch=20 masterpiece about to be sold is a Nazi wartime theft, a case that = reveals the=20 brutal methods used by the Nazis to pilfer art, as well as the corrupt = underbelly of the art world itself.

JANWILLEM VAN DE WETERING

The Butterfly Hunter (1982): Thriller of the chase = for hidden=20 Nazi loot.

SUSAN VREELAND

Girl in Hyacinth Blue (1999): Novel follows the trail = of an=20 'unknown' painting by the Dutch master Vermeer, titled 'The Girl in = Hyacinth=20 Blue,' after it is discovered in the basement of a man who inherited = it from=20 his father, a Nazi looter in Holland during World War II. Also looks = at the=20 circumstances of the Jewish family from whom the painting was stolen. = Received=20 starred reviews from Booklist and Kirkus.

IRVING WALLACE

The Seventh Secret (1986): Young Emily Ashcroft, a = beautiful=20 Oxford historian, seeks to solve one of the great mysteries of modern = times=20 and thwart a group of neo-Nazis conspiring to perpetuate Hitler's = image and=20 obscure the details of his death. She has the help of Rex Foster, = researching=20 Nazi architecture; Nicholas Kirvov, curator of a Soviet art museum; = and Tovah=20 Levine, Mossad agent.

SYLVIA MAULTASH WARSH

To Die In Spring (2001): First in a mystery series = featuring=20 Dr. Rebecca Temple, a young widow recovering from the early death of = her=20 beloved artist husband. The book explores deceptions that go back to = the Nazi=20 death camps in Poland and that underlie the paranoia and death of one = of=20 Temple's patients. The novel also explores Jewish museums, housing = Jewish=20 artifacts -- which Hitler planned to build to show future Aryan = generations=20 what Jews were, once they no longer existed -- as well as the = mentality of=20 Nazi Judaica experts who collected the artifacts for the museum. Set = in 1979=20 Toronto and in Germany during WWII. Nominated for the Arthur Ellis = Award and=20 two Anthonys.

CLARISSA WATSON

Runaway (1995): A horse that's carrying artist and = sleuth=20 Persis Willum jumps over a hedge and lands amidst a band of terrorists = plotting to seize a lost fortune in gold from World War II.

ZERRIES, A. J.

The Lost Van Gogh (2007) : A painting stolen during = WWII=20 mysteriously appears at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It is returned = to its=20 rightful owner/heir but an attack on the heir leads the New York = Police to a=20 cunning mastermind who will resort to as many murders as necessary to = regain=20 the painting.

Nazi Art Thefts: Non-Fiction

There are many non-fiction books about art theft during World War II. = Here=20 are a few that have been well-reviewed:

HECTOR FELICIANO

The Lost Museum: The Nazi Conspiracy to Steal the World's = Greatest=20 Works of Art (1997): Non-fiction, but reads like a good = detective=20 story. Journalist Feliciano focuses on French private collections that = were=20 either appropriated outright by the German government or purchased at=20 fire-sale prices. Well-written and thoroughly documented. Part = mystery, part=20 crime thriller, and part art history.

PETER HARCLERODE AND BRENDA PITTAWAY

The Lost Masters: WW II and the Looting of Europe's=20 Treasurehouses (2000): Non-fiction. With an almost overwhelming = attention to detail, the authors trace the elusive web of = collaborators,=20 opportunists and dealers who exploited the Third Reich's lust for = prestigious=20 trophies. Gripping vignettes and revelatory anecdotes illuminate the = fates of=20 specific works of art.

AKINSHA KONSTANTIN

Beautiful Loot: The Soviet Plunder of Europe's Art = Treasures=20 (1995): This book explores the politics, motives, and secrecy of the = Soviets'=20 plunder of millions of treasures from German museums and private = collections=20 during and after WWII.

ADRIAN LEVY AND CATHERINE SCOTT-CLARK

The Amber Room: The Fate of the World's Greatest Lost=20 Treasure (2004): Details the hunt for the Amber Room, showing = how=20 modern-day searchers must deal with the agendas of previous hunters = and of the=20 guardians of the archives. Clear maps and 50 black-and-white photos. =

LYNN H. NICHOLAS

The Rape of Europa: The Fate of Europe's Treasures in the = Third=20 Reich and the Second World War (1994): Non-fiction. Nicholas = offers an=20 astonishingly good account of the wholesale ravaging of European art = during=20 World War II by Allied and Axis soldiers alike, of how teams of = international=20 experts have worked to recover lost masterpieces in the war's = aftermath and of=20 how governments are still negotiating for the return of many stolen = objects.=20

JONATHAN PETROPOULOS

The Faustian Bargain: The Art World of Nazi Germany = (2000):=20 Spotlighting five groups -- art museum directors, art dealers, art=20 journalists, art historians, and artists -- Petropoulos carefully and=20 systematically details how each of these groups either directly or = indirectly=20 facilitated the theft of countless works of art and legitimized the = Nazi=20 regime. Petropoulos is research director of the U.S. Presidential = Advisory=20 Committee on Holocaust Assets and history professor at Claremont = McKenna=20 College in California.

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