BEACH READING

Vanished Smile: The Mysterious Theft of Mona Lisa
By R.A. Scotti (Knopf, $24.95)

During the summer of 1911, the unthinkable happened.

On Aug. 21, 1911, Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa," one of the most famous paintings in the world, vanished from the Louvre in Paris. Almost as remarkable as the theft, 24 hours passed before museum officials realized the irreplaceable masterpiece was gone.

In a remarkable new book, R.A. Scotti documents a crime that was as brazen as it was infamous. Stealing the "Mona Lisa" was especially stupefying, since it would be almost impossible to fence the most recognizable painting in the world. As thousands of people flocked to the Louvre to see the empty space where the famous portrait had hung, French detectives scrambled to find and arrest the thief or thieves. Using the latest investigative techniques, including fingerprinting, officials pursued every conceivable lead.

Dozens of newspapers offered rewards for the safe return of the painting, while the city's leading picture magazine, L'Illustration, asked its readers, "What audacious criminal, what mystifier, what maniac collector, what insane lover, has committed this adduction?"

A year after the theft, the officials of the Louvre were forced to confront the possibility that the masterpiece might be gone forever, and, a portrait by Raphael

filled the space

where the Mona Lisa had originally hung. Even though false leads occasionally surfaced, it wasn't until November of 1913 — more than two years after the theft — that an art dealer in Florence received a letter that sounded promising. It said the "Mona Lisa" had been stolen so that it could be returned to Italy. The author of the letter, Vincenzo Perugia, eventually produced the picture from the bottom of a trunk in his hotel room, and he was promptly arrested.

R.A. Scotti combines her skills as historian and novelist to re-create this sensational crime, which has all the twists and turns of a mystery novel, except that it's true.