Stealing the Scream

In 2004 masked thieves stole Edvard Munchs The Scream from an Oslo museum. Norwegian police recovered the painting two years later but never explained how or where theyd found it. This 70000-word literary-leaning humor-laced crime novel Stealing The Scream tells what may have happened. Retired CEO-turned-painter Percival Davenports criminality starts when fueled by insecurity he hires a whiskey-drinking thief to break into museums and hang his paintings. If Percival can pass off his art as museum-quality he will know hes attained mastery. The donations attract the attention of Leonard a Smithsonian guard and amateur sleuth. As Leonard begins collecting the unwanted paintings and searching for the artist Percivals studies intensify. He develops an obsession with Edvard Munchs The Scream and steals it. When Leonard and law enforcement agents come knocking at Percivals door his Tell-Tale-Heart-like anxiety causes him to turn his mansion and the famous painting into a roiling inferno. This forces the police into creative means of art restoration.