Review: Among Thieves by David Hosp

I greatly enjoyed David Hosp's Among Thieves, the first of his books I have read. Maybe it's because so much of the book is about places I've been and stories that are part of Boston lore I've heard for years,. The first of these tales is the largest art theft in history, which took place on the night of March 18, 1990. In the aftermath of the St. Patrick's Day festivities, a huge Boston event, a pair of thieves dressed as police officers entered the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, tied up the guards and stole thirteen disparate works of art from a variety of galleries and genres, which have never been recovered. Today, their estimated worth is half a billion dollars.The second of these is the legend of James "Whitey" Bulger, alleged leader of Boston's Winter Hill Gang and a fugitive on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List since disappearing in 1994. Bringing these two famed Boston stories together in Among Thieves is David's Hosp's perfect storm of a "what if".

Nearly twenty years after the art theft, and fifteen since Bulger was last seen in Boston, members of Boston's criminal underground are suddenly turning up dead. This doesn't appear to be a turf war, as all of the MO suggests a killer trained by the IRA. When lifelong thief Devon Malley is caught with an armful of women's lingerie leaving a high-end Newbury Street boutique, he calls attorney Scott Finn to assist him with the case and a little something more. It seems Devon has recently been united with a teenage daughter he never knew, and is trying to provide a home for her. He'll need Finn's help while awaiting arraignment.  Bringing in Lissa, Finn's law partner, and Kozlowski, his investigator, the three juggle court appointments, carpool, and investigating the holes in Devon's less than forth coming story, as it slowly grows and changes. While the police are investigating the torture and murders of several of Boston's long-time criminals, Devon is doing all he can to stay in jail. Suspicious of Devon, Kozlowski and Finn begin investigating the murders also, which brings danger to themselves and to Devon's daughter Sally. With information coming together and a timeline in place, the  murders of known Bulger associates and their ties to a twenty year old art theft all point to the most unlikely "mastermind" of all.

The many Boston true-isms in Among Thieves made it rich with color and humor, brightening the dark views into into the cities criminal world. Hosp explains the diehard Boston accent: "R"s  came out as "aah"s and the gerund form "ing" had been lost forever.  Curses had replaced all punctuation.  I had noticed the first two immediately upon moving to the area more than twenty years ago, but the second just cracked me up, because it is so true in certain environments, yet I had never thought of it as a regional speech pattern. Among Thieves opens on Patriot's Day a "smug Boston holiday intended to remind the world of Boston's place in American history". I don't know how smug it is, I just enjoy that there is no school that day! For most of the world it's the day the Boston Marathon is run.
Among Thieves is David Hosp's fourth novel featuring Boston attorney Scotrt Finn. It has adventure, humor and even a sweet romance that is a small under story. The three recurring characters of Finn, Lissa and Kozlowski are tough without being immune to the horrors they see and the plight of others. I am going to go back and start with the first Finn novel, Dark Harbor, which got great reviews. Just for another opinion, my mom also really liked Among Thieves, and she didn't have prior knowledge of the art theft, so if you like legal thrillers, definitely give it a try. 
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Official FTC Disclosure: I received no compensation for this review, other than the uncorrected Advance Reader Copy from Hachette Publishing Group.