Jan 27, 2010 4:17 AM

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I was very eager to read David Hosp's new book Among Thieves. A Boston-area lawyer Hosp uses the real-life 1990 Gardner heist as the backdrop for a thriller that tries in its own way to solve the case.

This isn't the first time that someone has tried to use the caper as the basis for a novel--I know others that have tried. And while I have some quibbles--and I'm not a big reader of thrillers--Hosp pulls it off, writing a gripping, fast-paced account of the caper thick with action and hopeful that the lost Gardner art will be returned.

Other reviewers have enjoyed the book as well. "Thriller readers won't be disappointed with the plot twists and surprise ending here, and Scott Finn fans will cheer his return," noted Library Journal." [G]rittily realistic ...Hosp has a good eye for character," said Kirkus Reviews.

I emailed Hosp some questions after the holidays. His replies are below.

What drew you to the Gardner caper?

I love writing about Boston, and one of my favorite places in the city is the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum-a beautiful spot that also happens to be the site of the largest art theft in history. Twenty years ago, two men dressed as Boston Police Officers stole nearly half a billion dollars worth of art in a bizarre heist on the night of St. Patrick's Day. The robbery has never been solved; the paintings have never been found.

The robbery might seem sufficient inspiration, but in many ways, it was not the theft that first inspired me; it was the museum itself. It is the only institution of its kind in that it embodies the artistic vision of a single individual. Isabella Stewart Gardner, one of the wealthiest women of her time, built her museum in the last decade of the nineteenth century. She helped design the building in the style of a Venetian palazzo turned in upon itself, with a monstrous glass roof suspended four stories above an enormous central garden courtyard. She selected and placed every single piece of art-one of the greatest private collections assembled in history-herself, and left the museum to the public upon her death with the proviso that nothing about the museum or the placement of the art ever be altered. As a result, the paintings that were stolen have never been replaced. Empty frames mark the spots where the paintings used to hang. To me, it was a perfect backdrop for a thriller involving my Boston-based characters, and I couldn't resist.

Did you spend a lot of time researching the case for your thriller?

With respect to the robbery itself, I did an enormous amount of research, starting with secondary sources. There have been a number of non-fiction books written about the robbery, as well as documentaries. I used the F.B.I.'s website, and detailed contemporary (as well as more recent) accounts of police reports and witness interviews. I visited the museum itself repeatedly, mapping out the paths followed by the two robbers, and tring to figure out certain aspects of the timing. I also did a great deal of research on art theft generally-on the IRA's role in art theft in the 1980s and 90s, and on the history of the F.B.I.'s art theft program and investigators. I had previously researched the Boston mob scene for prior books, and I brushed up on some of that research as well. When I finally felt that I had a good grasp on the specifics, I talked to a few people who were involved in various ways in the investigation, but really just for color. I made a conscious decision to avoid talking directly to many of the main players and suspects. Ultimately this is a novel-a thriller, at that-and I didn't want my characters to be bound by preconceptions of actual people. I also wanted to avoid any suggestion that my characters were based on real individuals.

Did you develop theories as to where the paintings might be?

I think the paintings are still somewhere in or around Boston. I suspect the thieves may not have understood the impact the heist would have, and the intensity that the resulting investigation would reach. It's also likely that the robbers were planning on ransoming back the paintings for insurance money. (It was not publicly known at the time that the Gardner Museum didn't have insurance.)

What was the biggest surprise researching the book? And then writing it?

Probably the biggest surprise was how prevalent (and lucrative) art theft has become. One of my sources lists art theft as the number two criminal industry after the drug trade.

The book is a fascinating thriller. Was that hard to create given the historical backdrop, the facts of the heist? Or did the factual details make it easier?

It's always a little dicey to write a fiction work that centers on real-life events. On the one hand, I wanted to be true to the actual facts of what happened as we currently know. I went through reports from the robbery, contemporary newspaper accounts, as well as secondary sources to get as clear an understanding as I could of what actually happened; and I tried to stay true to the facts so that the plot maintains plausibility. At the same time, my goal was to tell a story that would captivate people, and keep them riveted. I was helped by the fact that there are so many strange things about the theft itself. In the end, finding the balance was a challenge.

Your book ends on a hopeful note. After spending so much time with the case, do you think the art will be returned?

I hope they are found, but my greatest worry is that the paintings (particularly Vermeer's The Concert and Rembrandt's Storm on the Sea of Galilee) have not been properly cared for. They would have to have been remounted and kept under optimal temperature and humidity to have survived in reasonable condition. Given the way the paintings were treated during the robbery, I am not optimistic that they would be in good shape if found.

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