Profiles the most famous safe cracker, bank robber, and art thief of the Victorian Age and the model for Professor Moriarty in the Sherlock Holmes mysteries Arthur Conan Doyle fictionalized him as the superhuman Professor Moriarty, and the popular press luridly chronicled his daring heists, though the police never managed to convict him of anything major until he was nearly 50. Forgotten since his 19th-century heyday, master thief Adam Worth (1844-1902) gets a contemporary dusting-off in this cheerfully cynical biography by a British journalist, who sees Worth's story as a case study in Victorian hypocrisy. The colorful New York and London underworlds are as meticulously described as Worth's surprisingly attractive personality. The model for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Professor Moriarty, Adam Worth (1844-1902) was one of the greatest thieves of the Victorian era. Macintyre's (Forgotten Fatherland: The Search for Elizabeth Nietzsche, LJ 10/1/92) entertaining biography traces how the American-born German Jew became the "godfather" of his era, building up a network that stole from banks and the wealthy. His biggest claim to fame was the theft of Thomas Gainsborough's portrait of the Duchess of Devonshire. For a quarter of a century, the obsessed Worth kept the painting. He had such an unusual relationship with the Pinkerton brothers that they acted as intermediaries when Worth returned the painting to its owner, thereby enhancing their detective agency's reputation. Macintyre has done his research well, and his book reads like an exciting detective novel. Providing a rare glimpse of the criminal and social atmosphere during the last part of the 19th century, it is highly recommended.?Michael Sawyer, Clinton P.L., Iowa Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. Macintyre chronicles the vastly entertaining saga of Adam Worth, a notorious gentleman thief who traveled in the most rarefied and genteel circles of Victorian society. Worth, an American-born German-Jew who reinvented himself as a British aristocrat, graduated from picking pockets and petty theft to grand larceny, forging an insidious international criminal network. Pursued for decades by Scotland Yard and the Pinkerton Detective Agency, he effortlessly eluded the authorities while continuing to perpetrate outlandish high-profile crimes. The inspiration for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's memorable Professor Moriarty, Worth abhorred violence and adhered to a strict moral code while genially fleecing his friends of their valuables. The ingenious details of his most memorable heists are hilariously recounted in comic fashion by an author who expresses genuine affection and admiration for his flawed subject. This fascinating and amusing biography will delight true-crime buffs. Margaret Flanagan All praise then to Ben Macintyre, the Paris bureau chief of the Times of London, who ... took time off ... to explore the archives of the Pinkerton Detective Agency. He came upon a clipping, dated 1902, from the Oregonian , recording the life and death of Adam Worth, "Master Thief of Modern Times..." This happy discovery led Macintyre to a great deal of enjoyable research and the production of a hilarious and highly readable account of a time when there was still a certain amount of honor among thieves. -- The New York Times Book Review, John Mortimer