The Art of the Heist

"A gripping tell-all . . . For a master of deceit, Connor is surprisingly candid . . . his book offers a fascinating look inside the mind of an unrepentant criminal." — The Washington Post How did the son of a decorated policeman grow up to be one of Boston's most notorious criminals? How did he survive a decades-long feud with the FBI? How did he escape one jail sentence with a fake gun carved out of soap? How did he trade the return of a famous Rembrandt for early release from another sentence? The Art of the Heist is a roller-coaster ride of a life, the memoir of America's most infamous art thief, Myles Connor. Once a promising young rock musician, Connor instead became a thief with irresistible charm and a genius IQ whose approach to his chosen profession mixed brilliant tactical planning with stunning bravado, brazen disguises, audaciously elaborate con jobs, and even the broad-daylight grab-and-dash. New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian Institution, Boston's Museum of Fine Art . . . no museum was off-limits. The fact that he was in jail at the time of the largest art theft in American history—the still-unsolved robbery of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum—has not stopped the FBI from considering him a prime suspect. The Art of the Heist is Connor's story—part confession, part thrill ride, and impossible to put down. "From his daring 1965 jail break at age twenty-two to his legendary career pilfering treasures from museums all over New England, Connor's life is the stuff of adventure novels." — Publishers Weekly (starred review) "A dizzying account of bank robberies, museum break-ins, drug deals, and violent brushes with the law during a lifetime of thumbing his nose at authority." — The Boston Globe "One of the most beguiling criminal memoirs ever written. . . . A rare gem of a book." —T. J. English, New York Times–bestselling author of The Westies