Art Theft, By Sandy Nairne

Sandy Nairne was the Tate's director of programmes when, in 1994, two prize Turners were stolen while on loan in Frankfurt.

This book of two halves begins with a riveting, edge-of-seat chronicle of the eight years of subtle sleuthing and wrangling that led to the paintings' recovery.

As he engages with undercover policemen, top financiers and Serbian crime lords (via seedy lawyers), this is a fabulously involving tale.

The second part, drier but shrewd, shores up Nairne's scholarly credentials with a survey of art-theft as fact and myth.