Friday, December 1, 2023, 12:00 – 1:00 p.m.
A History Studio featuring Bob Ainsworth, historical fiction author
St. Patrick’s Day, 1990. Two men dressed as Boston cops entered the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, stayed for about 90 minutes, and left with 13 pieces of art. None of the priceless items have been found. Numerous suspects have been named over the years but none have been arrested. Many are now dead. Bob Ainsworth, the author of DUPED, a fictional account of the robbery, will review the actual details of the theft, the suspects, and the motives behind the world’s most valued art theft. He will also tell of his own brush with the infamous crime.
We will do our best to monitor your questions and comments during the conversation. A recording will be publicly available in the Conversations on the Commons Archive, and a livestream available on our YouTube channel.
Questions? Email commons@masshistoryalliance.org
About the speaker:
Bob Ainsworth was raised in New Jersey, earned a BS in Accounting from Boston College, an MBA in Finance from Northeastern University, and had his CPA. He worked in corporate accounting as a CFO and Controller and taught accounting. He uncovered two fraud cases during his career. The idea for the Harry Bartlett stories sprang from his Accounting students’ positive reactions to fraud anecdotes. He started to write his first story while commuting and then continued after retiring. He has self-published 3 novels- DUPED, CONNED and SCAMMED. A fourth, PONZI’d, is planned for 2024. He loves reading mysteries and thrillers by authors such as John Grisham, Dennis Lehane, Robert B. Parker, David Baldacci, Earl Stanley Gardner, Arthur Conan Doyle, Hank Phillippe Ryan, and Elmore Leonard. He also likes to read non-fiction history. He lives in retirement in Massachusetts with his family.
Conversations on the Commons
Where people from Massachusetts history organizations get to vent, empathize, laugh, complain, think, collaborate, brainstorm, plan, and in general be up to no good.