Tracking Stolen Treasures


Book Description

A criminal conspiracy. A kidnapped suspect. Can a K-9 team uncover the truth? To expose a vicious jewel-theft ring, undercover FBI agent Alena Sanchez pursues a prime suspect at a mountain resort. Only the woman vanishes—forcing Alena to team up with search and rescue officer Hank Miller and his K-9 to save her. But with the criminals setting lethal traps, Alena and Hank are running out of time to catch the culprits before they end up dead. From Love Inspired Suspense: Courage. Danger. Faith. K-9 Search and Rescue Book 1: Desert Rescue by Lisa Phillips Book 2: Trailing a Killer by Carol J. Post Book 3: Mountain Survival by Christy Barritt Book 4: Search and Defend by Heather Woodhaven Book 5: Following the Trail by Lynette Eason Book 6: Dangerous Mountain Rescue by Christy Barritt Book 7: Wilderness Hunt by Lisa Phillips Book 8: Alaskan Mountain Search by Sarah Varland Book 9: Alaskan Avalanche Escape by Darlene L. Turner Book 10: Tracking Stolen Treasures by Lisa Phillips Book 11: Alaskan Wilderness Rescue by Sarah Varland Book 12: Lethal Mountain Pursuit by Christy Barritt




Priceless


Book Description

The Wall Street Journal called him “a living legend.” The London Times dubbed him “the most famous art detective in the world.” In Priceless, Robert K. Wittman, the founder of the FBI’s Art Crime Team, pulls back the curtain on his remarkable career for the first time, offering a real-life international thriller to rival The Thomas Crown Affair. Rising from humble roots as the son of an antique dealer, Wittman built a twenty-year career that was nothing short of extraordinary. He went undercover, usually unarmed, to catch art thieves, scammers, and black market traders in Paris and Philadelphia, Rio and Santa Fe, Miami and Madrid. In this page-turning memoir, Wittman fascinates with the stories behind his recoveries of priceless art and antiquities: The golden armor of an ancient Peruvian warrior king. The Rodin sculpture that inspired the Impressionist movement. The headdress Geronimo wore at his final Pow-Wow. The rare Civil War battle flag carried into battle by one of the nation’s first African-American regiments. The breadth of Wittman’s exploits is unmatched: He traveled the world to rescue paintings by Rockwell and Rembrandt, Pissarro, Monet and Picasso, often working undercover overseas at the whim of foreign governments. Closer to home, he recovered an original copy of the Bill of Rights and cracked the scam that rocked the PBS series Antiques Roadshow. By the FBI’s accounting, Wittman saved hundreds of millions of dollars worth of art and antiquities. He says the statistic isn’t important. After all, who’s to say what is worth more --a Rembrandt self-portrait or an American flag carried into battle? They're both priceless. The art thieves and scammers Wittman caught run the gamut from rich to poor, smart to foolish, organized criminals to desperate loners. The smuggler who brought him a looted 6th-century treasure turned out to be a high-ranking diplomat. The appraiser who stole countless heirlooms from war heroes’ descendants was a slick, aristocratic con man. The museum janitor who made off with locks of George Washington's hair just wanted to make a few extra bucks, figuring no one would miss what he’d filched. In his final case, Wittman called on every bit of knowledge and experience in his arsenal to take on his greatest challenge: working undercover to track the vicious criminals behind what might be the most audacious art theft of all.




The Orpheus Clock


Book Description

The passionate, true story of one man's quest to reclaim what the Nazis stole from his family--their beloved art collection--and to restore their legacy. Simon Goodman's grandparents came from German Jewish banking dynasties and perished in concentration camps. And that's almost all he knew--his father rarely spoke of their family history or heritage. But when he passed away, and Simon received his father's papers, a story began to emerge. The Gutmanns, as they were known then, rose from a small Bohemian hamlet to become one of Germany's most powerful banking families. They also amassed a world-class art collection that included works by Degas, Renoir, Botticelli, and many others, including a Renaissance clock engraved with scenes from the legend of Orpheus. The Nazi regime snatched everything the Gutmanns had labored to build: their art, their wealth, their social standing, and their very lives. Simon grew up in London with little knowledge of his father's efforts to recover their family's possessions. It was only after his father's death that Simon began to piece together the clues about the stolen legacy and the Nazi looting machine. He learned much of the collection had gone to Hitler and Goring; other works had been smuggled through Switzerland, sold and resold, with many pieces now in famous museums. More still had been recovered by Allied forces only to be stolen again by bureaucrats-- European governments quietly absorbed thousands of works of art into their own collections. Through painstaking detective work across two continents, Simon proved that many pieces belonged to his family, and successfully secured their return-- the first Nazi looting case to be settled in the United States. Goodman's dramatic story reveals a rich family history almost obliterated by the Nazis. It is not only the account of a twenty-year long detective hunt for family treasure, but an unforgettable tale of redemption and restoration.




Trailing a Killer


Book Description

A killer with an explosive agenda…and a K-9 and determined detective on the case. In a hurricane’s aftermath, Detective Erin Jeffries is stunned when she and her search-and-rescue K-9, Alcee, uncover a collapsed building’s only survivor — her long-ago ex, Cody Elbourne. And it’s quickly clear that the disaster was no accident. Now only Cody can identify the man who set the explosives that killed his grandfather…and Erin must stop the killer dead set on silencing him. Mills & Boon Love Inspired Suspense — Courage. Danger. Faith.




Stolen, Smuggled, Sold


Book Description

“A riveting look at the backstory of what’s in the display cases at your local museum. The author profiles seven historic objects with checkered pasts.” —Library Journal There are many books about museum heists, Holocaust artwork, insider theft, trafficking in antiquities, and stolen Native American objects. Now, there’s finally a book for the general public that covers the entire terrain. Stolen, Smuggled, Sold features seven vivid and true stories in which the reader joins the author as she uncovers a cultural treasure and follows its often-convoluted trail. Along the way author and reader encounter a cast of fascinating characters from the underbelly of the cultural world: unscrupulous grave robbers, sinister middlemen, ruthless art dealers, venal Nazis, canny lawyers, valiant academics, unstoppable investigative reporters, unwitting curators, and dedicated government officials. Stories include Gustav Klimt’s Portrait of Adele Bloch Bauer 1, the typset manuscript for Pearl Buck’s The Good Earth, a ceremonial Ghost Dance shirt from the massacre at Wounded Knee, the theft of 4,800 historical audio discs by a top official at the National Archives, a missing original copy of The Bill of Rights, the mummy of Ramses I, and an ancient treasure from Iraq. While each story is fascinating in and of itself, together they address one of the hottest issues in the museum world: how to deal with the millions of items that have breaks in the chain of ownership, suspicious ownership records, or no provenance at all. The issue of ownership touches on professional practices, international protocols, and national laws. It’s a financial issue since the illicit trade in antiquities and cultural items generates as much as $4 billion to $8 billion a year.




Oklahoma Treasures and Treasure Tales


Book Description

Contains stories; some true, some legendary, about caches of lost treasure.




Love and Treasure


Book Description

A spellbinding new novel of contraband masterpieces, tragic love, and the unexpected legacies of forgotten crimes, Ayelet Waldman’s Love and Treasure weaves a tale around the fascinating, true history of the Hungarian Gold Train in the Second World War. In 1945 on the outskirts of Salzburg, victorious American soldiers capture a train filled with unspeakable riches: piles of fine gold watches; mountains of fur coats; crates filled with wedding rings, silver picture frames, family heirlooms, and Shabbat candlesticks passed down through generations. Jack Wiseman, a tough, smart New York Jew, is the lieutenant charged with guarding this treasure—a responsibility that grows more complicated when he meets Ilona, a fierce, beautiful Hungarian who has lost everything in the ravages of the Holocaust. Seventy years later, amid the shadowy world of art dealers who profit off the sins of previous generations, Jack gives a necklace to his granddaughter, Natalie Stein, and charges her with searching for an unknown woman—a woman whose portrait and fate come to haunt Natalie, a woman whose secret may help Natalie to understand the guilt her grandfather will take to his grave and to find a way out of the mess she has made of her own life. A story of brilliantly drawn characters—a suave and shady art historian, a delusive and infatuated Freudian, a family of singing circus dwarfs fallen into the clutches of Josef Mengele, and desperate lovers facing choices that will tear them apart—Love and Treasure is Ayelet Waldman’s finest novel to date: a sad, funny, richly detailed work that poses hard questions about the value of precious things in a time when life itself has no value, and about the slenderest of chains that can bind us to the griefs and passions of the past. This eBook edition includes a Reading Group Guide.




Dangerous Mountain Rescue


Book Description

From USA TODAY Bestselling Author Christy Barritt Finding a missing girl depends on a K-9 and his handler. Erin Lansing will search every inch of the mountains to find her missing teen daughter—even with someone dead-set on stopping her. Teaming up with search-and-rescue K-9 handler Dillon Walker and his dog, Scout, is her only chance at living long enough to see her daughter again. But to save them all, can Dillon and Scout help Erin confront the dangerous truth about her past? From Love Inspired Suspense: Courage. Danger. Faith. K-9 Search and Rescue Book 1: Desert Rescue by Lisa Phillips Book 2: Desert Rescue & Trailing a Killer & Mountain Survival by Carol J. Post Book 3: Desert Rescue & Trailing a Killer & Mountain Survival by Christy Barritt Book 4: Search and Defend by Heather Woodhaven Book 5: Following the Trail by Lynette Eason Book 6: Dangerous Mountain Rescue by Christy Barritt




Thieves of Baghdad


Book Description

Thieves of Baghdad is a riveting account of Colonel Matthew Bogdanos and his team's extraordinary efforts to recover over 5,000 priceless antiquities stolen from the Iraqi National Museum after the fall of Baghdad. A mixture of police procedural, treasure hunt, war-time thriller, and cold-eyed assessment of the international black market in stolen art, Thieves of Baghdad also explores the soul of a truly remarkable man: a soldier, a father, and a passionate, dedicated scholar.




Following the Trail


Book Description

Tracking leads in her sister’s disappearance could make a K-9 handler the next victim. Lacey Jefferson’s search for her missing sister quickly turns into a murder investigation—thrusting Lacey and her search-and-rescue K-9, Scarlett, into a killer’s sights. Now teaming up with her ex-boyfriend, Sheriff Creed Payne, is the only way to discover the murderer’s identity. But can they survive long enough to dig up the truth? From Love Inspired Suspense: Courage. Danger. Faith. K-9 Search and Rescue Book 1: Desert Rescue by Lisa Phillips Book 2: Desert Rescue & Trailing a Killer & Mountain Survival by Carol J. Post Book 3: Desert Rescue & Trailing a Killer & Mountain Survival by Christy Barritt Book 4: Search and Defend by Heather Woodhaven Book 5: Following the Trail by Lynette Eason Book 6: Dangerous Mountain Rescue by Christy Barritt