Jonathan Harr's The Lost Painting chronicles the events leading to the discovery, in 1993, of a lost painting by Caravaggio, The Taking of Christ. Scholars had known of the painting and many copies existed, yet Caravaggio's original canvas was lost for hundreds of years.

http://www.nationalgallery.ie/Collect...

I know I am an art history nerd, but I found this book incredible suspenseful even though almost all the big discoveries were unearthed in archives (tedious work). The book recounts the contributions of several people, an eminent octogenarian Caravaggio scholar, an Italian art restorer living in Ireland, and a Roman graduate student of art history. Much of the credit for unearthing The Taking's provenance goes to Francesca Cappelletti, the aforementioned grad student, who was in her twenties at the time and a Master's student. Seriously impressive.

I know my background and interests make me predisposed to appreciate this book, but I found it even more enthralling than I expected.