Did Picasso steal the Mona Lisa?

I think many true crime fans will find themselves engrossed in a new offering from Hachette Books. While the story of Picasso’s connection to the theft of the perfect painting is known, we are promised a colorful rendition. The book is The Crimes of Paris: A True Story of Murder, Theft, and Detection [Amazon; B&N] by Dorothy Hoobler and Thomas Hoobler.

The publisher promises a ripping yarn about Bohemian Paris and some forensic history to boot:

Turn-of-the-century Paris was the beating heart of a rapidly changing world. Painters, scientists, revolutionaries, poets--all were there. But so, too, were the shadows: Paris was a violent, criminal place, its sinister alleyways the haunts of Apache gangsters and its cafes the gathering places of murderous anarchists. In 1911, it fell victim to perhaps the greatest theft of all time--the taking of the Mona Lisa from the Louvre.

Immediately, Alphonse Bertillon, a detective world-renowned for pioneering crime-scene investigation techniques, was called upon to solve the crime. And quickly the Paris police had a suspect: a young Spanish artist named Pablo Picasso....

For more details, see the authors’ website.