Paris, City of Light -- 1910: (after a brief jaunt in 1925)  The Mona Lisa- just another extraordinary painting quietly hanging in a one of the Louvre's many galleries.  Eduardo de Valfierno sees no reason why that condition should persist.  He's had quite a nice little career in Buenos Aires; the nouveaux riche pay him well to steal fine works of art... and he hands them perfect forgeries instead.  But now he's on the scent of something much more rewarding- something back in his favorite city: Paris.

 

Carson Morton has written a mystery based upon the real - and very notorious- theft of the Mona Lisa one hundred years ago.  You may have heard the radio discussions honoring the centennial, or read stories in the papers- or on the net.  Now here's your opportunity for a little tour through time.  I think this looks like fun!

 

Before its 1911 theft, the Mona Lisa was admired- but didn't have the world-wide fame it owns today.  That theft, with universal media attention, made people everywhere see this painting in a new way- and that renovated perception persists to our time.  The social archeology of a cultural touchstone.