Thirteen Perfect Fugitives

The True Story of the Mob, Murder, and the World's Largest Art Heist

The true story of the world's largest art heist, as told by the FBI agent who investigated the case.

On March 18, 1990, thirteen works of art were plucked from the walls of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston by two subjects posing as police officers. They rang the night bell, claiming they were responding to a call of a disturbance. After incapacitating the guard and his partner with handcuffs and duct tape, the subjects spent the next eighty-one minutes inside the museum, leisurely removing some of the world's most valuable pieces of artwork from the walls, including a rare Vermeer and Rembrandt's only known seascape. The total loss associated with this robbery has been estimated at over $1 billion.

Based on meticulous investigations conducted to the standards required of an FBI special agent, Thirteen Perfect Fugitives offers author Geoffrey Kelly's insights and theories about the infamous heist.

©2026 Geoffrey Kelly

Outstanding read!

Read this book! You will not regret it!! The author writes and narrates this topic in a way that makes you feel like you were there and a part of the process. It's very detailed and keeps your attention...the entire time. Nicely done 👍

A true tour de force, quite simply a must. I wish I could rate it higher. One of the best true crime books out there.

This is a truly compelling story of a real crime against humanity and an FBI Art crime Team Agent who persistently investigated it. The title is clever and the author reads it himself. I find it difficult to believe this is his first book given how well it is written and the exceptional performance delivered reading it. Best of all, the author is quite funny making the listen an enjoyable experience. Buy the book and the audio, you won’t regret it!

Where Is The Art?

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Mr. Kelly is an excellent writer, and brings additional color to the story through his descriptions of people and places. Of course, the question we all want answered - where is the art - is the one thing that cannot be answered. We are left with interesting stories concerning the most likely perpetrators, futile searches around the East Coast, and undercover operations that nearly achieved their goals. There’s a lot of wit and a lot of law enforcement insight, too. Now if we could just find the art…

So Engaging!

What a great story and narration (by the author himself). My thanks to this retired FBI agent for his dedication. I look forward to the return of those priceless art pieces.

The real crime is…

Fascinating story of the 1990 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist. Thoughtfully detailed and a magical tour of the northeast, save the Florida septic tank. I anxiously await when any of these paintings with be unearthed. I have to say, with Kelly being from Boston, the real crime is his pronunciation of Bangor and Wiscasset Maine… he should know better.