Jonathan Santlofer is an author and artist. He is the author of the memoir The Widower’s Notebook, the international bestselling novel, The Death Artist, as well as Color Blind, The Killing Art, The Murder Notebook, Anatomy of Fear, which won the Nero Award for best crime novel of 2009, and The Last Mona Lisa. He created and edited The New York Times “Notable Book,” It Occurs To Me that I Am America, a collection of original work by more than 50 of today’s best known authors and artists. He is editor/contributor of The New York Times best selling serial novel Inherit the Dead, editor and contributor of L.A. NOIRE: The Collected Stories, Akashic Books’ The Marijuana Chronicles, and co-editor, contributor and illustrator of the short story anthology, The Dark End of the Street. His stories appear in numerous collections, including The Rich & the Dead, edited by Nelson De Mille, New Jersey Noir, edited by Joyce Carol Oates, Lawrence Block’s two bestselling anthologies, In Sunlight and In Shadow and Alive In Form and Color. His stories have also appeared in such publications as Ellery Queen Magazine and the Strand Magazine. His next historical fiction novel, The Lost Van Gogh, is slated for release in 2024.
Jonathan is the recipient of two National Endowment for the Arts grants, has been a Visiting Artist at the American Academy In Rome, the Vermont Studio Center, and serves on the board of Yaddo, one of the oldest arts communities in the U.S.
Books
About The Lost Mona Lisa
"Unstoppable what-happens-next momentum."―Michael Connelly, #1 New York Times bestselling author
"A deliciously tense read."―Ruth Ware, #1 New York Times bestselling author
From award-winning crime writer and celebrated artist Jonathan Santlofer comes an enthralling tale about the 1911 theft of the Mona Lisa from the Louvre, the forgeries that appeared in its wake, and the present-day underbelly of the art world.
August, 1911: The Mona Lisa is stolen by Vincent Peruggia. Exactly what happens in the two years before its recovery is a mystery. Many replicas of the Mona Lisa exist, and more than one historian has wondered if the painting now returned to the Louvre is a fake, switched in 1911.
Present day: Art professor Luke Perrone digs for the truth behind his most famous ancestor: Peruggia. His search attracts an Interpol detective with something to prove and an unfamiliar but curiously helpful woman. Soon, Luke tumbles deep into the world of art and forgery, a land of obsession and danger.
Fans of The Lost Mona Lisa can follow Luke Perronne and friends in their next crime-fighting adventure, in Santlofer’s soon-to-be-published new novel The Lost Van Gogh (Look for it in January 2024.)
About The Widower's Notebook
Written with unexpected humor and great warmth, The Widower's Notebook is a portrait of a marriage, an account of the complexities of finding oneself single again after losing your spouse, and a story of the enduring power of familial love.