The Art Thief is the 2027 book for Salem Reads: One Book, One Community!

It is time to reveal the 2027 Salem Reads book selection! We invite the community to read The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession by best-selling true crime author Michael Finkel.

The 2027 signature event will be a free, public talk and book signing by Michael Finkel at 7 p.m. Tuesday, February 23 at the Salem Convention Center. Registration opens on January 19, 2027.

Additional events and activities will also celebrate and explore the themes of Finkel's riveting portrait of the most prolific art thief of all time, who filled his attic bedroom in his mother's home with objects stolen in more than 200 wild heists.

Read or listen to The Art Thief, available from Salem Public Library in English in print, large print, audio, eBook, and eAudiobook, and in Spanish in print and eBook. Download and enjoy eBooks and eAudiobooks on the CloudLibrary and Libby apps.

For younger readers this year, there is a connected book suggested, The Mona Lisa Vanishes: A Legendary Painter, a Shocking Heist, and the Birth of the Global Celebrity by Nicholas Day, illustrated by Brett Helquist. Exploring the daring 1918 theft of the Mona Lisa from the Louvre, this book is also an 2026-2027 Oregon Battle of the Books for grades 6-8.

Salem Reads is a community-wide reading project that invites the people of Salem to come together in person or virtually through reading, discussion, and programs based on the themes of a common book. The Salem Public Library Foundation funds this effort to foster community and invite people of diverse ages, backgrounds, and viewpoints to come together to discuss compelling topics. Learn more about how to support this and other vital library projects at the Salem Public Library Foundation website.