Thirteen Perfect Fugitives - by Geoffrey Kelly (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

The true story of the world's largest art heist, as told by the FBI agent who investigated the case.

On March 18, 1990, thirteen works of art were plucked from the walls of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston by two subjects posing as police officers. They rang the night bell, claiming they were responding to a call of a disturbance. After incapacitating the guard and his partner with handcuffs and duct tape, the subjects spent the next eighty-one minutes inside the museum, leisurely removing some of the world's most valuable pieces of artwork from the walls, including a rare Vermeer and Rembrandt's only known seascape. The total loss associated with this robbery has been estimated at over $1 billion.

Based on meticulous investigations conducted to the standards required of an FBI special agent, Thirteen Perfect Fugitives offers author Geoffrey Kelly's insights and theories about the infamous heist.

Review Quotes

"Geoff Kelly, the FBI's lead investigator on the infamous Gardner Museum art heist, gives us not only the ultimate insider's guide but a front row seat to a real-life thriller. Beautifully written and well-plotted by a smart, dedicated, and unusually sensitive lawman, this book should be required reading for any and all crime writers!"--Jonathan Santlofer, bestselling author of The Last Mona Lisa and The Lost Van Gogh

"Twists and turns galore...I could not put this book down.

Inside the infamous Gardner Art Museum Heist in Boston with the FBI's lead investigator, retired Special Agent Geoff Kelly. The true crime details you don't know plus the suspects, the searches and the saga of the Thirteen Perfect Fugitives. This amazing story has it all."--Dave Schratwieser, retired investigative crime reporter, host of the MobTalk Sitdown/Philly Prime podcast, adviser on Netflix's Mob War: Philadelphia vs The Mafia

"With the pacing of a thriller and the allure of true crime, Geoff Kelly has brought readers a tale of mob bosses, art theft, and a decades old mystery. Thirteen Perfect Fugitives will keep you turning pages, wondering how any of this could possibly have happened, and marveling at the fact that all of it is true."--Julie Clark, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Flight, The Lies I Tell, and The Ghostwriter

About the Author

Geoffrey Kelly is a retired FBI agent with more than thirty years of state and federal law enforcement experience. As one of the original members of the FBI's elite Art Crime Team, he managed numerous high-profile cases throughout his career and recovered more than $100 million in stolen artwork and cultural property. An internationally recognized expert in the field of fine art and antiquities theft, Geoff has trained domestic and international agencies and institutions around the world on proven methods and best practices to prevent art and cultural property theft.

Geoff is a graduate of Boston University where he earned his master's degree in criminal justice. He serves as an instructor at Harvard University's Extension School, teaching a graduate-level course on art crime and investigations.