As the title suggests, this is a book about the dark side of the City of Light. It’s set during the belle époque (late 19th century through WW I), when that darkness included the famous theft of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa from the Louvre in 1911. The inside flaps and much of the publicity imply that the book is mostly about that crime. That’s misleading, doing both the book and potential readers a disservice; there’s much more to the book than that, which also means a lot of unrelated things for those only interested in that one crime. True, the book begins and ends with the theft, connecting some of what comes in between to it as well. Yet, it’s really about the broader culture of crime and violence of the time, including the efforts to stop it, and how society viewed it. That broader culture is part of the background to the theft, but the book ranges widely. To arbitrarily limit the book’s scope would make what is already a string of vignettes rather than a single connected narrative look like a completely disordered mess.

It’s a fascinating subject, which the reader will gulp down eagerly thanks to the book’s easy-reading, dramatic, action-filled narrative style. The authors also bring things home to the reader by always focusing on the people involved: people with foibles, motives, concerns and needs not so different from today. Subjects covered range from anarchists to "apache" gang violence, from the first crime to include the idea of a get-away car to the enormous advances in criminal investigation brought about by people like Vidocq and Bertillion.  And, of course, the Mona Lisa  theft.  Why was it so easy to steal the painting? Was Pablo Picasso somehow involved?

I think my biggest surprise was how much of what’s discussed resonates with today. Violent, amoral apache gangs have obvious parallels, but there were also satirical articles in the press and slapstick films made about the theft that are all too easy to imagine appearing on The Onion and YouTube if it had happened today.

This was a fascinating and fun read from which I learned a lot and which certainly changed some of my ideas about the time.  Definitely recommended.