Robbery File: The Museum Heist

Children's Literature - Barbara L. Talcroft

From England comes this "Crime Solvers" series for mystery addicts and fans of true crime shows. In eleven spreads, with photographs and maps, each book explores a specific case, describing the crime, the gathering of evidence, the hunt for perpetrators, and their consequent trials and sentencing. This volume details the famous case of the 2002 theft of paintings from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. Though there were witnesses to the break-in, and the police arrived quickly on the scene, the robbers made their getaway with two of Van Gogh's early works. Each spread follows crime solvers at work, with sidebars on various techniques used: in this case, fingerprints, closed-circuit television, DNA testing of hairs, and phone tapping. With the cooperation of Spanish police, one suspect was finally arrested in the resort of Marbella, and the second was captured in Amsterdam. The most fascinating thing about the case is that the thieves refused to tell what they had done with the paintings, which have never been recovered. A "Case Closed" section shows a flow chart of events, while a final chapter, "Crime Solving Up Close," provides more information on crime scene investigation, hair as forensic evidence, and DNA matching. The series, with its no-nonsense style and abundance of color and black-and-white photos, should prove absorbing for young detectives; the series consultant is a lecturer in forensic science at England's Staffordshire University. Reviewer: Barbara L. Talcroft

School Library Journal

Gr 3-6 Each title introduces a case and then invites readers to explore how investigators solved it. The narratives are clear, compelling, and dramatic, and will hold children's interest from the lead-in through the police procedures, interviews with witnesses, and gathering of forensic evidence, to the perpetrators' convictions. Color photographs and maps, which fill at least half of each page, enhance the texts. Robbery File , which depicts the theft of two famous van Gogh paintings, is probably the least thrilling of the three. Both Cold Case File and Kidnapping File will appeal to readers who are eager to delve into gruesome details; they are a bit graphic and may raise a few parental eyebrows. However, as there is currently much interest in the forensic sciences and not a great deal that is accessible to younger readers, the books will certainly find an audience.-Jane Henriksen Baird, Anchorage Public Library, AK