Teaser Tuesday: Master Thieves

During the mob's heyday in Boston, between 1970 and 1985, just about every criminal in the city believed that the return of a valuable stolen artwork could shorten a prison sentence or even make it go away. Even though the authorities delivered far less, that's what mobsters believed.

--  Master Thieves: The Boston Gangsters Who Pulled Off the World's Greatest Art Heist by Stephen Kurkjian.

In 1990, 13 works of art worth as much as $500,000 were stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston and the crime is still unsolved. Now Pulitzer-winner journalist, Steve Kurkjian analyzes over 20 years of investigative reporting and FBI materials to provide the definitive account of this tantalizing mystery.

Kurkjian is former member of Spotlight team that covered the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal for the Boston Globe, which was the subject of the 2016 Best Picture Oscar-winner Spotlight. I recently interviewed Steve on my work blog about the his work on the Spotlight team and reporting on the Church scandal.

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by MizB at Books and a Beat, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event.

Book Beginning: Master Thieves

THANKS FOR JOINING ME ON FRIDAYS FOR BOOK BEGINNING FUN!

Please join me every Friday to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author’s name.

EARLY BIRDS & SLOWPOKES: This weekly post goes up Thursday evening for those who like to get their posts up and linked early on. But feel free to add a link all week.

FACEBOOK: Rose City Reader has a Facebook page where I post about new and favorite books, book events, and other bookish tidbits, as well as link to blog posts. I'd love a "Like" on the page! You can go to the page here to Like it. I am happy to Like you back if you have a blog or professional Facebook page, so please leave a comment with a link and I will find you.

TWITTER, ETC: If you are on Twitter, Google+, or other social media, please post using the hash tag #BookBeginnings. I try to follow all Book  Beginnings participants on whatever interweb sites you are on, so please let me know if I have missed any and I will catch up.

TIE IN: The Friday 56 hosted by Freda's Voice is a natural tie in with this event and there is a lot of cross over, so many people combine the two. The idea is to post a teaser from page 56 of the book you are reading and share a link to your post. Find details and the Linky for your Friday 56 post on Freda’s Voice.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNING



MY BOOK BEGINNING

On March 18, 1990, the city of Boston -- and the world -- suffered a profound loss when two men dressed as police officers commandeered the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and pulled off the greatest art theft in world history.

-- from the author's Introduction to Master Thieves: The Boston Gangsters Who Pulled Off the World's Greatest Art Heist by Stephen Kurkjian.

Just months after being paroled from Massachusetts state prison, where he had reently finished serving a seventeen-year sentence for kidnapping and attempted extortion, Louis Royce, now well into his seventies, walks easily through the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

-- from Part I, "The Heist," chapter 1, "Royce."

Kurkjian draws on over 20 years of investigative reporting and FBI materials to give us the definitive account of the still-unsolved robbery of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

Kurkjian is a Pulitzer-winning journalist and former member of the Boston Globe Spotlight team that covered the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal, the blockbuster subject of the 2016 Best Picture Oscar-winner Spotlight. I recently interviewed Steve on my work blog about the Church scandal, the story, and working on the Spotlight team.

Mailbox Monday

Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday! MM was created by Marcia, who graciously hosted it for a long, long time, before turning it into a touring event. Mailbox Monday has now returned to its permanent home where you can link to your MM post.

I got some cool books I am very excited about:



Master Thieves: The Boston Gangsters Who Pulled Off the World's Greatest Art Heist by Stephen Kurkjian. This brand new account of the robbery of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum sheds new light on this still-unsolved mystery.

Kurkjian was one of the Boston Globe Spotlight team members who won a Pulitzer Prize for their coverage of the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal, as shown in the recent Best Picture Oscar-winner Spotlight. I recently interviewed Steve Kurkjian about the scandal, the story, and the Spotlight team on my work blog, here.



From the Heart: The Photographs of Brian Lanker, by Brian Lanker, with a prologue by Maya Angelou, published by OSU Press. Lanker won the Pulitzer Prize for feature photography when he was only 24. This is a gorgeous book of his amazing photographs, with captions researched and written by his friend, Mike Tharp, a war correspondent and award-winning journalist, and essays by Lanker’s colleagues and friends.



A Fifty-Year Silence: Love, War, and a Ruined House in France by Miranda Richmond Mouillot. The author's grandparents survived the Holocaust, but five years later, split up and never spoke to one another again. This family memoir is the author's attempt to figure out what happened.

Book Beginning: Zeitoun

THANKS FOR JOINING ME ON FRIDAYS FOR BOOK BEGINNING FUN!

Please join me every Friday to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author’s name.

EARLY BIRDS & SLOWPOKES: This weekly post goes up Thursday evening for those who like to get their posts up and linked early on. But feel free to add a link all week.

FACEBOOK: Rose City Reader has a Facebook page where I post about new and favorite books, book events, and other bookish tidbits, as well as link to blog posts. I'd love a "Like" on the page! You can go to the page here to Like it. I am happy to Like you back if you have a blog or professional Facebook page, so please leave a comment with a link and I will find you.

TWITTER, ETC: If you are on Twitter, Google+, or other social media, please post using the hash tag #BookBeginnings. I try to follow all Book  Beginnings participants on whatever interweb sites you are on, so please let me know if I have missed any and I will catch up.

TIE IN: The Friday 56 hosted by Freda's Voice is a natural tie in with this event and there is a lot of cross over, so many people combine the two. The idea is to post a teaser from page 56 of the book you are reading and share a link to your post. Find details and the Linky for your Friday 56 post on Freda’s Voice.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNING



MY BOOK BEGINNING

On moonless nights the men and boys of Jableh, a dusty fishing town on the coast of Syria, would gather their lanterns and set out in their quietest boats.

-- Zeitoun by David Eggers. This is the non-fiction story about a Syrian immigrant living in New Orleans with his American wife and family when Hurricane Katrina hit. It's our Book Club book this month.

Teaser Tuesday: Cockroaches

The air wrapped itself around her like a hot, wet towel as she left the taxi. She searched for a gap, holding her hand in from of her mouth, aware it made no difference, that there was no other air to breathe in Bangkok, but at least she was spared the smell.

-- Cockroaches: The Second Inspector Harry Hole Novel by Jo Nesbo. "When the Norwegian ambassador to Thailand is found dead in a Bangkok brothel, Inspector Harry Hole is dispatched from Oslo to help hush up the case."

I admit that, despite my love of Nordic Noir, I was late to jump on the Nesbo bandwagon, simply because I did not want to be seen carrying around any book that said "A Harry Hole Mystery" on the cover!

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by Jenn at A Daily Rhythm, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event.