The Art Thief is a crime novel with a strong art-historical background. In three European cities: Rome, Paris and London, valuable paintings by famous artists disappear. In all three cities, crime inspectors begin investigations and soon discover that the thefts have much more in common than they initially imagined. In Rome, the famous art theft expert, ascetic and extraordinary intellectual Gabriel Coffin, comes to the rescue; in Paris, the police inspector who thinks best with good food and drink, Jean-Jacques Bizot, and in London, the aging and somewhat neglected Scotland Yard inspector Harry Wickenden. Everyone is trying, the pace is getting faster, the ransoms are reaching dizzying sums, and the mystery is only deepening.