Publisher's Synopsis
International art historian and author Dr Susan Grundy toys with the alternative realities of a major art crime that has never been solved - the theft of a number of supposed Rembrandt masterpieces from a North American museum in March 1990, stolen with a Vermeer and some French Impressionist works, all told said to be worth almost half-a-billion dollars.
Based loosely on the public testimonies of William Youngworth, who popped up in the Boston press in 1997 saying he knew where the paintings were (and presumably therefore also who had stolen them), The Secrets of Alias Matthew Goldman is presented as a non-fiction crime novel. The familial relationship between Youngworth, a convicted Boston gangster with Irish Republican sympathies, and the disgraced Museum Director Rollin Hadley, is easily discoverable. Hadley was dismissed from his position at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Director just before the crime was committed. The two were related through adoption, adding an interesting dynamic that many seemed disposed to hide. Youngworth was obviously a frequent behind-closed-doors' visitor to the museum in the 1980s, where the Hadley family lived in an upstairs apartment. The plot unravels a duplicitous world where thieves steal from thieves, victims become perpetrators, and perpetrators become victims. It is a dark comedy thriller crafted with humor and pizazz, a madcap caper where everyone is at least partially guilty, a true farce. Cops are the bad guys, while the bad guys could be the heroes. "In the summer of 1997, a Boston gangster and convicted criminal Matthew Goldman pops up in the press claiming he knows the whereabouts of the still missing Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum artworks, stolen on a St Patrick's Day Weekend in March 1990 by two men dressed as police officers. Goldman starts demanding full immunity from crimes and the five million dollar reward, but time is ticking as he faces another extended jail sentence. Suzanne Kloppers is sent undercover to find out what is going on. She meets Goldman in a Harvard bookshop and it seems coincidental. He believes she is a tourist from South Africa. Of course, he doesn't say: 'Hello, I'm the art thief Matthew Goldman.' Rather, he introduces himself as an antiques dealer, by the name of Mark Hagan. Suzanne gains Matt's confidence. The couple become friends over a coffee, and within forty-eight hours Suzanne has seen one of the stolen paintings in the trunk of his car, a supposed Rembrandt the whole world seems to be looking for. Soon, the two of them are being pursued by a range of interested parties, from a cross-dressing journo, to doggedly suspicious FBI agents, with even the Boston Italian mafia tailing them, each character fixated on their own point of view. There is a substantial reward on the artworks that Matthew Goldman knows the whereabouts of, and everyone wants in on it. Some will even kill for this bounty. But Matthew doesn't realise Suzanne has set him up, as he starts to reveal details about the original robbery to her. She discovers the cops were in fact real, corrupt Boston policemen. Many other questions also need answering, such as, was the IRA really involved in the theft? And who was the real mastermind and what was his motive? Then, as the chips start to go down, Suzanne must make choices. She can report everything she has discovered, or she can simply leave town with her secrets. Twenty years have gone by and Suzanne is watching a major documentary about the still unsolved art heist, promoting the same old nonsense about the Boston Italian mafia, and giving airtime to the same useless talking-heads journalists. Matt is mentioned only briefly as an historical figure, and doesn't feature as a living guest. Suzanne decides it's time to write down the real story, and to set the record straight."
