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Charlesgate Confidential
An ingenious debut-novel unraveling the heist of the century, in 1946, 1986 and present-day Boston
A group of criminals in 1946 pull off the heist of the century, stealing a dozen priceless works of art from a Boston museum. But while the thieves get caught, the art is never found. Forty years later, the last surviving thief gets out of jail and goes hunting for the loot, involving some innocent college students in his dangerous plan - and thirty years after that, in the present day, the former college kids, now all grown up, are drawn back into danger as the still-missing art tempts a deadly new generation of treasure hunters. A breathtakingly clever, twist-filled narrative that moves from 1946 to 1988 to 2014 and back again, CHARLESGATE CONFIDENTIAL establishes Scott Von Doviak as a storyteller of the first order, and will leave you guessing until the very last page.
A group of criminals in 1946 pull off the heist of the century, stealing a dozen priceless works of art from a Boston museum. But while the thieves get caught, the art is never found. Forty years later, the last surviving thief gets out of jail and goes hunting for the loot, involving some innocent college students in his dangerous plan - and thirty years after that, in the present day, the former college kids, now all grown up, are drawn back into danger as the still-missing art tempts a deadly new generation of treasure hunters. A breathtakingly clever, twist-filled narrative that moves from 1946 to 1988 to 2014 and back again, CHARLESGATE CONFIDENTIAL establishes Scott Von Doviak as a storyteller of the first order, and will leave you guessing until the very last page.
319 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 18, 2018
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1590 people want to read
About the author
Scott Von Doviak
9 books127 followersI am the author of three books on film and pop culture: Hick Flicks: The Rise and Fall of Redneck Cinema, If You Like The Terminator, and Stephen King Films FAQ. I have been a freelance writer for more than two decades, including stints as a film critic for The Fort Worth Star-Telegram and television reviewing for The Onion's AV Club. My debut novel Charlesgate Confidential was called "terrific" by Stephen King and named one of the top 10 crime novels of 2018. My 70's set thriller Lowdown Road will be published in July 2023 by Hard Case Crime, I live in Austin, Texas with my wife Robin and our pets Sully and Chloe.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 208 reviews
October 22, 2018
If you’re looking for murder and mayhem in temporary lodgings then the Charlesgate should be mentioned along with the Overlook and Bates Motel.
The Charlesgate was once the swankiest hotel in Boston, but by 1946 it’s become a wretched hive of scum and villainy. After a poker night for gangsters gets robbed the guy running the game wants revenge. By 1986 the Charlesgate is student housing for a local college when one of the residents begins looking into the building’s history for a series of articles in the school paper, and he gets a very juicy story from a man recently released from prison. Cut to 2014 and the Charlesgate has been renovated into high priced condos, and a murder in one of these apartment seems to be linked to paintings worth millions that were stolen back in 1946 and never recovered.
This is a very solid debut novel from Scott Von Doviak who lived in the actual Charlesgate as a student in the ‘80s. He mixes in some of its real history with the spooky stories that surrounded it along with a famous Boston museum heist (Although he’s used creative license to move that from 1990 to 1946.) to create an intriguing puzzle box of a book. We shift through the three different time frames with the narratives eventually combining into one large story. It’s very well written and has a good page turning quality to it. There’s also some nice work done to establish the tone of each time period and the characters in it.
At just under 400 pages it’s a shade too long, and while I liked the ultimate resolution and theme the ending seems a little anti-climactic. The book also suffers from a common problem when the author is a Red Sox fan in that they think that the rest of us are just as interested in reliving their tales of woe over the years as they are. Yeah, yeah. You had it tough for a long time, but since Boston has won about 417 championships in various sports including baseball in the 21st century I don’t have a lot of patience or sympathy for it anymore. (However, I will be glad to talk to about the ups and downs of being a Kansas City Royals fan.)
Overall, it was still a good piece of crime fiction, and I’d like to see more from Von Doviak. I’d call it 3.5 stars if Goodreads gave us the option, but since they don’t I’m going with 3.
The Charlesgate was once the swankiest hotel in Boston, but by 1946 it’s become a wretched hive of scum and villainy. After a poker night for gangsters gets robbed the guy running the game wants revenge. By 1986 the Charlesgate is student housing for a local college when one of the residents begins looking into the building’s history for a series of articles in the school paper, and he gets a very juicy story from a man recently released from prison. Cut to 2014 and the Charlesgate has been renovated into high priced condos, and a murder in one of these apartment seems to be linked to paintings worth millions that were stolen back in 1946 and never recovered.
This is a very solid debut novel from Scott Von Doviak who lived in the actual Charlesgate as a student in the ‘80s. He mixes in some of its real history with the spooky stories that surrounded it along with a famous Boston museum heist (Although he’s used creative license to move that from 1990 to 1946.) to create an intriguing puzzle box of a book. We shift through the three different time frames with the narratives eventually combining into one large story. It’s very well written and has a good page turning quality to it. There’s also some nice work done to establish the tone of each time period and the characters in it.
At just under 400 pages it’s a shade too long, and while I liked the ultimate resolution and theme the ending seems a little anti-climactic. The book also suffers from a common problem when the author is a Red Sox fan in that they think that the rest of us are just as interested in reliving their tales of woe over the years as they are. Yeah, yeah. You had it tough for a long time, but since Boston has won about 417 championships in various sports including baseball in the 21st century I don’t have a lot of patience or sympathy for it anymore. (However, I will be glad to talk to about the ups and downs of being a Kansas City Royals fan.)
Overall, it was still a good piece of crime fiction, and I’d like to see more from Von Doviak. I’d call it 3.5 stars if Goodreads gave us the option, but since they don’t I’m going with 3.
January 14, 2021
Pulp, Mystery, Legend, Spirits, & Baseball
Charlesgate Confidential is a tremendous modern-day pulp story that combines fact, fiction, legend, and baseball. Telling the story in three distinct time periods, it tells the story of the Charlesgate, which is probably as well known to many Boston residents as the Green Monster itself.
First built as a turn of the century gilded age upper crust hotel, it later deteriorated into a haven for prostitutes, card sharks, drug addicts, vagabonds, and ghosts. Boston U. turned it into a women’s dorm. It fell into disrepair. Emerson College remodeled it and it was used as a dorm again in the eighties. Later, it went through another metamorphosis becoming exclusive pricey condos. But, through it all, there were legends of ghosts, spirits, and buried treasures.
Three time periods are brilliantly captured from the pulpy crime boss decade of the post-war forties. The tough talking hoods and vengeful robbers. That section focuses on a legendary Boston crime from another era but is worked into the timeframe rather well.
The Eighties dorm era is a terrific contrast and the era is captured quite convincingly. It’s 1986 and, if only we could go back to the years that forever tormented Red Sox fans and that elusive ring, all would be right with the world. But baseball and the chance at a ring in ‘86 was such a part of the fabric of the city that year.
Finally, mystery returns to the great old building in 2014 in yet another sinister homicide. All three time periods are eventually knit together with even a couple of recurring characters.
Easy to read, hard-edged at times, but a whole bundle of fun to read.
Charlesgate Confidential is a tremendous modern-day pulp story that combines fact, fiction, legend, and baseball. Telling the story in three distinct time periods, it tells the story of the Charlesgate, which is probably as well known to many Boston residents as the Green Monster itself.
First built as a turn of the century gilded age upper crust hotel, it later deteriorated into a haven for prostitutes, card sharks, drug addicts, vagabonds, and ghosts. Boston U. turned it into a women’s dorm. It fell into disrepair. Emerson College remodeled it and it was used as a dorm again in the eighties. Later, it went through another metamorphosis becoming exclusive pricey condos. But, through it all, there were legends of ghosts, spirits, and buried treasures.
Three time periods are brilliantly captured from the pulpy crime boss decade of the post-war forties. The tough talking hoods and vengeful robbers. That section focuses on a legendary Boston crime from another era but is worked into the timeframe rather well.
The Eighties dorm era is a terrific contrast and the era is captured quite convincingly. It’s 1986 and, if only we could go back to the years that forever tormented Red Sox fans and that elusive ring, all would be right with the world. But baseball and the chance at a ring in ‘86 was such a part of the fabric of the city that year.
Finally, mystery returns to the great old building in 2014 in yet another sinister homicide. All three time periods are eventually knit together with even a couple of recurring characters.
Easy to read, hard-edged at times, but a whole bundle of fun to read.
October 16, 2019
I've seen authors go horribly awry with two dueling timelines, but Von Doviak ups the stakes with his debut novel by giving readers three (yes, THREE!) timelines: 1946, 1986 and 2014. Despite having to read about the Red Sox more than I'd like (Never. I'd like to read about the Red Sox NEVER!), the world-building is top notch and how the author intricately weaves all three timelines together to tell the story of an art heist gone wrong makes for great reading. A book that deserves some award recognition.
September 20, 2018
This is a page-turner! I was so impressed with Von Doviak's snappy pacing and time swapping throughout the telling. The characters and dialogue are A+! It read like a movie within a movie within a movie. Cinematic writing, impeccable storytelling, interesting characters, a creepy building, twists and turns. It's got it all! When you read it, you're settling in to a literary experience with an entertaining punch.
February 18, 2023
I’m a sucker for a good heist story. With three different narratives, in three different decades, build to a fantastic story and a satisfying conclusion to a genuine mystery.
October 2, 2018
Sorry didn't like this one. I really wanted to like it I loved the premise. There are three plot lines which is a dangerous undertaking for any author. Each time the author shifts to another plot line he risks dumping the reader out of the story which is what happened to me. I loved one plot line, thought another was okay, and third I didn't care for at all. So overall there wasn't enough to hold me in the story. Also, the voice seemed to be the same in all three.
David Putnam author of The Bruno Johnson series.
David Putnam author of The Bruno Johnson series.
March 27, 2024
Fictional Historical Art Heist Caper
Review of the Titan Books / Hard Case Crime Kindle eBook edition (September 18, 2018).
I was curious to read Charlesgate Confidential (2018) after discovering Doviak's Lowdown Road (2023). The earlier book has the same sort of extrapolation of historical events as did the new one, which was built around Evel Knievel's Snake River Canyon Jump of 1974. Charlesgate Confidential takes the story of the still unsolved (as of 2024) 1990 art heist at Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and time-shifts it back to 1946. It ties the theft into the historic Charlesgate apartment building and then continues the story with the same building's University dormitory days in 1986 and then further into its luxury condominium apartment days of 2014.
That all tends to spread the story a bit thin and I had a degree of impatience with it. The book cycles continuously through its 3 story lines of 1946 to 1986 to 2014, most of the chapters cutting off at cliffhangers. That sort of writing does build suspense, but the constant time shifts become wearisome over 60 chapters worth of material. All 3 story lines do resolve, sometimes very abruptly, but the endings still verged on Unsatisfactory Ending Alert™ material. I found reading about the historical theft and the paintings themselves to be more fascinating. See below in Trivia and Links for more on that.
The Charlesgate apartment hotel in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Image sourced from Buildings of New England.
I read Charlesgate Confidential from picking it up as a $1.99 Kindle Deal of the Day and after enjoying the same author's recent Lowdown Road (2023).
Trivia and Links
Charlesgate Confidential is part of the Hard Case Crime (2004-) series of new works, reprints, and posthumous publications of the pulp and noir crime genre founded by authors Charles Ardai and Max Phillips. GR's Listopia is not complete (as of March 2024) and the most current lists of publication can be found at Wikipedia or the Publisher's own Official Site.
The paintings "The Concert" (1664) (above) and "Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee" (1633) (below). Images sourced from Wikipedia (see links below).
The two most famous paintings stolen in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art heist of 1990 are Vermeer's The Concert and Rembrandt's Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee. The Vermeer is considered to be the most valuable stolen object in the world, valued at $250 Million dollars (Estimated value in 2015).
Review of the Titan Books / Hard Case Crime Kindle eBook edition (September 18, 2018).
It meant nothing, but it meant everything. It was all like a movie—hell, it was a whole damn film festival. The problem is, you’re always the leading man in your mind. In real life, you may wake up to find out you’re just an extra.
I was curious to read Charlesgate Confidential (2018) after discovering Doviak's Lowdown Road (2023). The earlier book has the same sort of extrapolation of historical events as did the new one, which was built around Evel Knievel's Snake River Canyon Jump of 1974. Charlesgate Confidential takes the story of the still unsolved (as of 2024) 1990 art heist at Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and time-shifts it back to 1946. It ties the theft into the historic Charlesgate apartment building and then continues the story with the same building's University dormitory days in 1986 and then further into its luxury condominium apartment days of 2014.
That all tends to spread the story a bit thin and I had a degree of impatience with it. The book cycles continuously through its 3 story lines of 1946 to 1986 to 2014, most of the chapters cutting off at cliffhangers. That sort of writing does build suspense, but the constant time shifts become wearisome over 60 chapters worth of material. All 3 story lines do resolve, sometimes very abruptly, but the endings still verged on Unsatisfactory Ending Alert™ material. I found reading about the historical theft and the paintings themselves to be more fascinating. See below in Trivia and Links for more on that.
The Charlesgate apartment hotel in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Image sourced from Buildings of New England.
I read Charlesgate Confidential from picking it up as a $1.99 Kindle Deal of the Day and after enjoying the same author's recent Lowdown Road (2023).
Trivia and Links
Charlesgate Confidential is part of the Hard Case Crime (2004-) series of new works, reprints, and posthumous publications of the pulp and noir crime genre founded by authors Charles Ardai and Max Phillips. GR's Listopia is not complete (as of March 2024) and the most current lists of publication can be found at Wikipedia or the Publisher's own Official Site.
The paintings "The Concert" (1664) (above) and "Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee" (1633) (below). Images sourced from Wikipedia (see links below).
The two most famous paintings stolen in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art heist of 1990 are Vermeer's The Concert and Rembrandt's Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee. The Vermeer is considered to be the most valuable stolen object in the world, valued at $250 Million dollars (Estimated value in 2015).
December 24, 2020
AROUND THE WORLD OF CRIME AND MYSTERY
North America, 2018
You're about to be stranded on a lost island (darn those three hour tours) and you can only pack one book per each of your favorite book genres. For your "Art Theft" genre, do you take "The Goldfinch" (won a Pulitzer and is 771 pages) or "Charlesgate Confidential" (no awards, half the length, 1/3rd the weight)?
CAST - 4 stars: Dave T and brothers Shane and Jake are three of many "bad guys", but then again the brothers might have you shedding a tear or two. The oh-so-hot and sweet Jackie St. John. Cop Coleman doesn't even own a turntable anymore, "but he enjoyed browsing through old album covers..." and isn't that the perfect definition of 'just looking'? Half the cast spit out great one-liners at the drop of a hat: Doviak is very talented at humor in dark places.
ATMOSPHERE - 5 stars: "The Charlesgate Hotel" has an invisible eight floor. Lots of secrets, lots of hidden passageways, CHARACTERS and more characters, a LOVE ROOM, legendary horrors, everything you love about a haunted building. Three seasons of the Red Sox. Not just Boston, but Boston town, natch. The Beatles, the Who. Hash. The FBI. 1940's mafia-style warfare. A gay man by the time the 1980s roll around. All the way to 2014. Did I mention S-E-X? OR Vermeer? Bars and clubs and backrooms. Incense. Posters. Purple Debbie.
CRIME - 4 stars: The central crime here is a 1940's theft of 13 (of course) works of art from a museum. Are the 13 works hidden at the Charlesgate? Or do they even exist anymore?
INVESTIGATION- 4: During the three Red Sox seasons, three sets of people are deeply involved in either the art theft or saving their own heads. Will anyone survive this 60+ year old curse?
RESOLUTION - 4: It's good, it makes sense. But oddly, it doesn't much matter because this book is just F-U-N.
SUMMARY - 4.2. Yea, pack "Charlesgate Confidential" instead of "Goldfinch". Just think of the space in your luggage available for evening gowns and tuxedos for your three hour tour! I gotta buy a copy of this one for my permanent home shelves to read again in a few years. Oh, the cover artwork is great. This is one seriously overlooked crime novel. True, it's closer to "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken" than "The Maltese Falcon" but sometimes readers just want to have fun.
North America, 2018
You're about to be stranded on a lost island (darn those three hour tours) and you can only pack one book per each of your favorite book genres. For your "Art Theft" genre, do you take "The Goldfinch" (won a Pulitzer and is 771 pages) or "Charlesgate Confidential" (no awards, half the length, 1/3rd the weight)?
CAST - 4 stars: Dave T and brothers Shane and Jake are three of many "bad guys", but then again the brothers might have you shedding a tear or two. The oh-so-hot and sweet Jackie St. John. Cop Coleman doesn't even own a turntable anymore, "but he enjoyed browsing through old album covers..." and isn't that the perfect definition of 'just looking'? Half the cast spit out great one-liners at the drop of a hat: Doviak is very talented at humor in dark places.
ATMOSPHERE - 5 stars: "The Charlesgate Hotel" has an invisible eight floor. Lots of secrets, lots of hidden passageways, CHARACTERS and more characters, a LOVE ROOM, legendary horrors, everything you love about a haunted building. Three seasons of the Red Sox. Not just Boston, but Boston town, natch. The Beatles, the Who. Hash. The FBI. 1940's mafia-style warfare. A gay man by the time the 1980s roll around. All the way to 2014. Did I mention S-E-X? OR Vermeer? Bars and clubs and backrooms. Incense. Posters. Purple Debbie.
CRIME - 4 stars: The central crime here is a 1940's theft of 13 (of course) works of art from a museum. Are the 13 works hidden at the Charlesgate? Or do they even exist anymore?
INVESTIGATION- 4: During the three Red Sox seasons, three sets of people are deeply involved in either the art theft or saving their own heads. Will anyone survive this 60+ year old curse?
RESOLUTION - 4: It's good, it makes sense. But oddly, it doesn't much matter because this book is just F-U-N.
SUMMARY - 4.2. Yea, pack "Charlesgate Confidential" instead of "Goldfinch". Just think of the space in your luggage available for evening gowns and tuxedos for your three hour tour! I gotta buy a copy of this one for my permanent home shelves to read again in a few years. Oh, the cover artwork is great. This is one seriously overlooked crime novel. True, it's closer to "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken" than "The Maltese Falcon" but sometimes readers just want to have fun.
October 16, 2019
A fun read with a lot of historical facts about Boston and the 1986 AL baseball’s series between Boston and L.A. including the error by Bill Buckner in the 1986 World Series. The story is told in three different time periods and each chapter represents either 1947, 1986 or 2014. The plot involves a fictitious heist that took place in 1946 at the Isabelle Stewart museum (the same museum that was robbed in 1990). The setting for the event is the Charlesgate Hotel which through out its history has been a hotel, dorms for Boston And Emerson Colleges and luxury condominiums. The author does a wonderful job of connecting the different time events with a great narrative and sense of humor. His character development is a bit weak but it does not take away from a truly wonderful story. A very good debut for this author.
February 10, 2024
Red Sox baseball in three eras and much more.
January 19, 2019
Charlesgate Confidential is a novel spanning many decades and is told in alternating chapters involving three separate, but later tied together, groups of people.
The main theme of the novel involves the locating of a number of expensive paintings stolen during the opening era of the novel after the paintings had been hidden for safekeeping.
A background plot involves the pursuit of a World Series title by the Boston Red Sox through the years and serves as a common thread that ties the generations of characters to each other.
Charlesgate refers to a once grand hotel, that fell into disrepair after being turned into student housing and then into upscale condominiums in the hopes of returning the Charlesgate to its once luxury splendor.
I wanted to really like this novel, but it did not have the appeal other readers seemed to have found. For one thing, of the characters involved, there did not seem to be a likable character among them, therefore, I did not seem to care what happened to any character. Another thing was I had no emotional attachment to the Charlesgate building and could care little if it returned to its past glamor or not. One last issue was while reading the novel, it seemed as if the novel had a split personality with a feeling of not really establishing exactly what genre of novel it should be.
The main theme of the novel involves the locating of a number of expensive paintings stolen during the opening era of the novel after the paintings had been hidden for safekeeping.
A background plot involves the pursuit of a World Series title by the Boston Red Sox through the years and serves as a common thread that ties the generations of characters to each other.
Charlesgate refers to a once grand hotel, that fell into disrepair after being turned into student housing and then into upscale condominiums in the hopes of returning the Charlesgate to its once luxury splendor.
I wanted to really like this novel, but it did not have the appeal other readers seemed to have found. For one thing, of the characters involved, there did not seem to be a likable character among them, therefore, I did not seem to care what happened to any character. Another thing was I had no emotional attachment to the Charlesgate building and could care little if it returned to its past glamor or not. One last issue was while reading the novel, it seemed as if the novel had a split personality with a feeling of not really establishing exactly what genre of novel it should be.
December 13, 2018
This is another rollicking good book under the Hard Case Crime label. I have liked nearly all of the books that I have read that have been sold under this label. They are not great pieces of literature, but they are definitely fun to read. This story has a rather complex format. It is told in three distinct time periods. Von Doviak does a great job. My own college career slightly predates the time period in this book, but the author's rendition is very accurate based on my own experiences.
I recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of the other works published under the label and lovers of pulp fiction in general. It is a fun read.
I recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of the other works published under the label and lovers of pulp fiction in general. It is a fun read.
September 22, 2018
I know it's a cliche, but this was incredibly hard to put down. I don't often read before bed, but I found myself staying up night after night to finish. I just had to know what happened to the paintings.
June 30, 2018
Definitely one of the better Hard Case titles I’ve read.
November 28, 2018
Muy entretenida novela criminal.
Stephen King le recomendó ampliamente hace algunos meses y no me pude resistir al ver la trama.
Tres historias se cuentan en paralelo: En 1946, el Charlesgate es un hotel que ha caído en desgracia y ahora es hogar de actividades criminales. Uno de sus ocupantes planea robar unas famosas pinturas del museo Isabella Stewart Gardner de Boston. En 1986, un joven aspirante a periodista decide investigar el pasado del edificio que sirve de dormitorio a su universidad, el Charlesgate. En 2014, una vendedora de bienes raíces es asesinada cuando está mostrando un departamento a un posible comprador ... adivinaron, en el Charlesgate. Como elemento extra, las tres historias se desarrollan mientras los Medias Rojas tratan,por fin, ganar la Serie Mundial.
Las tres historias, que tienen como punto en común el misterioso edificio, se irán entrelazando poco a poco. Además hay que mencionar que los elementos históricos que sirven de telón a las historias son reales: el Charlesgate y buena parte de la historia que se cuenta son reales, el robo al museo fue real (aunque ocurrió en 1990 y no en 1946), y los partidos de los Red Sox son reproducidos fielmente.
Aunque el estilo es demasiado simple, y los personajes podrían haberse desarrollado mejor, no cabe duda de que la estructura y cada una de las tramas están muy bien pensadas, mantienen muy bien la tensión y el suspenso, y se enlazan con un ritmo que ayuda mucho a mantener el suspenso y no soltarte.
La forma en que el autor resuelve los misterios no me pareció tan brillante como me esperaba, pero aún así el final (o finales) son adecuados.
La disfruté mucho. Se me hizo muy muy inteligente y entretenida.
Stephen King le recomendó ampliamente hace algunos meses y no me pude resistir al ver la trama.
Tres historias se cuentan en paralelo: En 1946, el Charlesgate es un hotel que ha caído en desgracia y ahora es hogar de actividades criminales. Uno de sus ocupantes planea robar unas famosas pinturas del museo Isabella Stewart Gardner de Boston. En 1986, un joven aspirante a periodista decide investigar el pasado del edificio que sirve de dormitorio a su universidad, el Charlesgate. En 2014, una vendedora de bienes raíces es asesinada cuando está mostrando un departamento a un posible comprador ... adivinaron, en el Charlesgate. Como elemento extra, las tres historias se desarrollan mientras los Medias Rojas tratan,por fin, ganar la Serie Mundial.
Las tres historias, que tienen como punto en común el misterioso edificio, se irán entrelazando poco a poco. Además hay que mencionar que los elementos históricos que sirven de telón a las historias son reales: el Charlesgate y buena parte de la historia que se cuenta son reales, el robo al museo fue real (aunque ocurrió en 1990 y no en 1946), y los partidos de los Red Sox son reproducidos fielmente.
Aunque el estilo es demasiado simple, y los personajes podrían haberse desarrollado mejor, no cabe duda de que la estructura y cada una de las tramas están muy bien pensadas, mantienen muy bien la tensión y el suspenso, y se enlazan con un ritmo que ayuda mucho a mantener el suspenso y no soltarte.
La forma en que el autor resuelve los misterios no me pareció tan brillante como me esperaba, pero aún así el final (o finales) son adecuados.
La disfruté mucho. Se me hizo muy muy inteligente y entretenida.
April 1, 2020
“Baseball and murder were both back in season, and everyone in Homicide had a full scorecard.”
This is a good read, told in three different time periods - 1946, 1986, and 2014. It's set in Boston, and there are a lot of references to places, and the Red Sox, in the town! You got stolen paintings, murders galore, and a mystery that takes some forty years to solve! The plot kept me guessing, and the three time lines were well written! My only complaint was the ending, ending. It was just a bit mundane after all the fun before it! Still, I'm glad I read it and I'd be interested to read more by this author! And I STILL can't believe that ball went through Buckner's legs...
P.S. - Just for fun, I googled this on 3/27/20. Holy moley! -
Boston, MA
4 Charlesgate E, Unit 204, Back Bay
Price$1,234,000
Bedrooms 2 Bathroom 2 Square Feet 1,127
According to the book the whole Charlesgate was built in 1891 for $170,000.
Again, holy moley!
This is a good read, told in three different time periods - 1946, 1986, and 2014. It's set in Boston, and there are a lot of references to places, and the Red Sox, in the town! You got stolen paintings, murders galore, and a mystery that takes some forty years to solve! The plot kept me guessing, and the three time lines were well written! My only complaint was the ending, ending. It was just a bit mundane after all the fun before it! Still, I'm glad I read it and I'd be interested to read more by this author! And I STILL can't believe that ball went through Buckner's legs...
P.S. - Just for fun, I googled this on 3/27/20. Holy moley! -
Boston, MA
4 Charlesgate E, Unit 204, Back Bay
Price$1,234,000
Bedrooms 2 Bathroom 2 Square Feet 1,127
According to the book the whole Charlesgate was built in 1891 for $170,000.
Again, holy moley!
October 18, 2020
I can’t tell you why I loved Scott Von Doviak’s CHARLESGATE CONFIDENTIAL, only that I did, that, as I posted on Twitter, each page was a greased pan of pure reading pleasure. I’ve read largely laudatory reviews that expertly broke down what makes the novel work, and I agree with them, but somehow I was unable to form the sentences that spelled out CHARLESGATE CONFIDENTIAL’s success with the mechanics of plot, structure, character, pacing and prose style.
The story cuts between stories set in 1946, 1986 and 2014, each loosely connected to a series of killings connected to the theft of some priceless paintings from the Gardner Museum in Boston (the author cleverly appropriated the real-life 1990 incident into his 1946 story) and its lingering connection to the Charlesgate building, a residential structure with a fascinating, haunted boom-and-bust history.
While Von Doviak clearly loves Boston and loves history, he never gets bogged down in them to the point that he forgets to tell a story. And this is a story about character, and to the extent that I can articulate my good feelings about the novel, I can say that the characters are a fascinating blend of good and bad, bright and stupid, and brave and weak, and never feel contrived from a checklist of craft-guide characteristics. They have that real, blind-spotted, complicated-but-simple feel of lives that have been semi-comfortably slept in, that can only be created by a writer with a core confidence in what they’re doing, who have lived these people in their heads for so long that when they come out into the world, they’re walking and talking and strutting like kids ready to rule the playground.
Tommy Donnelly, the central character of the 1986 story, for example: he’s a clever, fun, hardworking student who stumbles on an interesting mystery. We root for him to put together the clues and get the loot and get the girl he lusts after. But he doesn’t really have what it takes to get to the finish line, and he freezes up in the face of true evil when its shadow falls across his beer glass. And I found I liked that better than a more conventional character arc. You will too, trust me.
More I will not say, because I cannot say, other than CHARLESGATE CONFIDENTIAL just plain works, and I felt constantly caught between my desire to race through it and my desire to savor it in little bites and save it up for days like a child’s dessert. Not a very critic thing to say, I know, but it’s honestly all I’ve got.
The story cuts between stories set in 1946, 1986 and 2014, each loosely connected to a series of killings connected to the theft of some priceless paintings from the Gardner Museum in Boston (the author cleverly appropriated the real-life 1990 incident into his 1946 story) and its lingering connection to the Charlesgate building, a residential structure with a fascinating, haunted boom-and-bust history.
While Von Doviak clearly loves Boston and loves history, he never gets bogged down in them to the point that he forgets to tell a story. And this is a story about character, and to the extent that I can articulate my good feelings about the novel, I can say that the characters are a fascinating blend of good and bad, bright and stupid, and brave and weak, and never feel contrived from a checklist of craft-guide characteristics. They have that real, blind-spotted, complicated-but-simple feel of lives that have been semi-comfortably slept in, that can only be created by a writer with a core confidence in what they’re doing, who have lived these people in their heads for so long that when they come out into the world, they’re walking and talking and strutting like kids ready to rule the playground.
Tommy Donnelly, the central character of the 1986 story, for example: he’s a clever, fun, hardworking student who stumbles on an interesting mystery. We root for him to put together the clues and get the loot and get the girl he lusts after. But he doesn’t really have what it takes to get to the finish line, and he freezes up in the face of true evil when its shadow falls across his beer glass. And I found I liked that better than a more conventional character arc. You will too, trust me.
More I will not say, because I cannot say, other than CHARLESGATE CONFIDENTIAL just plain works, and I felt constantly caught between my desire to race through it and my desire to savor it in little bites and save it up for days like a child’s dessert. Not a very critic thing to say, I know, but it’s honestly all I’ve got.
November 2, 2018
Charlesgate Confidential is a wonderful, darkly funny and intriguing take on the Isabella Stewart Gardner art heist, told through three very specifically rendered time-frames. The multiple eras made for a compelling read and, being a 30-year Boston resident, it was especially juicy experiencing the town through the eyes of our protagonist, Tommy Donnelly in 1986. I felt like I was in long-defunct Pizza Pad, the Rat and other Boston haunts all over again. I also was drawn into the criminal underworld of the 1946 era. The Beantown hoodlums really jump off the page and you root for them, even when you know they are fundamentally dirtbags. Do yourself a favor and treat yourself to this yarn, you won't regret it! I am also looking forward to whatever is next from Mr. Von Doviak.
May 11, 2023
A really intriguing fun read with an art heist as the basis for the many murders that ensue, all very expertly woven together in three different decades over a period of 70 years. The Charlesgate, once a swanky hotel, later turned into student housing after it had fallen into a terrible state of disrepair, then into expensive condominiums, is the primary setting throughout the story. Just an all-round good mystery. Definitely recommend!
February 15, 2022
An excellent debut, spanning 70 years and three different timelines. Lots happening in each timeline with great characters and a little humour along the way. Intriguing from the first page to the last. Great stuff.
October 7, 2022
When I got back to Charlesgate on Saturday night, I had a message waiting for me.
"Some dude called for you," said the Rev. "Said his name is Shane Devlin, and you should meet him at noon tomorrow at this address: 25 Evans Way."
"Thanks."
"Who is this guy?"
"I told you about the guy who just got out of jail I meat at the Fallout Shelter, right? That's him."
"Right on. Why was he in jail?"
"He killed two people, including a cop."
"Oh....that's cool."
"Really? So you'd have no qualms about going to meet this guy at some random address?"
"Uh...not me, man. But you're the aspiring journalist. I mean, you gotta figure Deep Throat was a pretty shady dude, but Woodman and Epstein still met up with him in some creepy parking garage."
"Excellent point as usual."
"You gotta look at the big picture. You want Dustin Hoffman to play you in a movie someday, these are the chances you have to take."
"I feel a lot better about this now. Good talk."
~~The Charlesgate is real, and has a history that is very close to the fiction portrayed in Von Doviak's novel. It opened in 1891 as a luxury hotel, was hit hard by the depression, and then became a woman's dorm for Boston College from 1947 to 1973. It was indeed populated by drug addicts, devil worshippers, and other dubious tenets during the 70's before being purchased as a dorm for Emerson College in 1981. The author himself lived there in the 1980's. Today the Charlesgate is home to very expensive residential apartments. We are transported to a 3 part saga taking place in 1946, 1986, and 2014 in this thrilling novel.
First two sentences: The eighth floor of the Charlesgate Hotel was invisible. The hotel's architect, J. Pickering Putnam, had designed it that way for reasons known only to him.
My two cents: This was an immensely *fun* book to read, especially after finishing the dark satire of Slaughterhouse-Five. Split narratives are hard to pull off, but Von Doviak successfully carries story-arcs in THREE different time periods--1946, 1986, and 2014. Not only that, but each year has its own tensions and thrilling mysteries. I was on the edge of my seat, and wanted to skip forward, but couldn't because I was just as enthralled with each year!! The prose is smart, and the dialogue is a treat to read. In the 1940's we are submerged into the Boston mob. It felt a bit like reading an episode of The Sopranos . The 1980's puts us smack dab in the middle of Charlesgate dorm life. Then in the 2014's we are trying to figure out why the past is still relevant enough to provoke murder. Be warned that there is violence that can be extreme at times. Overall given a rating of 4 stars or "Excellent". Highly recommended as a library check-out, or even a bookstore grab if the story-line sounds like your cup of tea. :)
Other favorite quotes: "Listen to your friend....Shane. We're on to new business now. And business is good. It's gonna make that fifteen grand look like a drop in the bucket. I'm talking about millions. The biggest heist this city has ever seen. And it's gonna be like taking candles from a baby."
"Candy," said Shane.
"What?"
"Candy. The saying is 'like taking candy from a baby.' What would a baby be doing with candles?"
"What the f*ck do I care? Point is, we got no worries at all; Now finish your beers."
~~Finally I admitted defeat and made my way to the research desk. An Ichabod Crane lookalike regarded my approach like that of a flea-bitten stray.
Further Reading: Shane's brother, Jake, served in WWII, and was a POW on the Japanese ship, Oryoku Maru. Von Doviak correctly references real life when Jake describes his hellish experience of trying to survive when American planes bombed the ship (not knowing there were POWs on board). Read more about it here. https://www.archives.gov/publications...
"Some dude called for you," said the Rev. "Said his name is Shane Devlin, and you should meet him at noon tomorrow at this address: 25 Evans Way."
"Thanks."
"Who is this guy?"
"I told you about the guy who just got out of jail I meat at the Fallout Shelter, right? That's him."
"Right on. Why was he in jail?"
"He killed two people, including a cop."
"Oh....that's cool."
"Really? So you'd have no qualms about going to meet this guy at some random address?"
"Uh...not me, man. But you're the aspiring journalist. I mean, you gotta figure Deep Throat was a pretty shady dude, but Woodman and Epstein still met up with him in some creepy parking garage."
"Excellent point as usual."
"You gotta look at the big picture. You want Dustin Hoffman to play you in a movie someday, these are the chances you have to take."
"I feel a lot better about this now. Good talk."
~~The Charlesgate is real, and has a history that is very close to the fiction portrayed in Von Doviak's novel. It opened in 1891 as a luxury hotel, was hit hard by the depression, and then became a woman's dorm for Boston College from 1947 to 1973. It was indeed populated by drug addicts, devil worshippers, and other dubious tenets during the 70's before being purchased as a dorm for Emerson College in 1981. The author himself lived there in the 1980's. Today the Charlesgate is home to very expensive residential apartments. We are transported to a 3 part saga taking place in 1946, 1986, and 2014 in this thrilling novel.
First two sentences: The eighth floor of the Charlesgate Hotel was invisible. The hotel's architect, J. Pickering Putnam, had designed it that way for reasons known only to him.
My two cents: This was an immensely *fun* book to read, especially after finishing the dark satire of Slaughterhouse-Five. Split narratives are hard to pull off, but Von Doviak successfully carries story-arcs in THREE different time periods--1946, 1986, and 2014. Not only that, but each year has its own tensions and thrilling mysteries. I was on the edge of my seat, and wanted to skip forward, but couldn't because I was just as enthralled with each year!! The prose is smart, and the dialogue is a treat to read. In the 1940's we are submerged into the Boston mob. It felt a bit like reading an episode of The Sopranos . The 1980's puts us smack dab in the middle of Charlesgate dorm life. Then in the 2014's we are trying to figure out why the past is still relevant enough to provoke murder. Be warned that there is violence that can be extreme at times. Overall given a rating of 4 stars or "Excellent". Highly recommended as a library check-out, or even a bookstore grab if the story-line sounds like your cup of tea. :)
Other favorite quotes: "Listen to your friend....Shane. We're on to new business now. And business is good. It's gonna make that fifteen grand look like a drop in the bucket. I'm talking about millions. The biggest heist this city has ever seen. And it's gonna be like taking candles from a baby."
"Candy," said Shane.
"What?"
"Candy. The saying is 'like taking candy from a baby.' What would a baby be doing with candles?"
"What the f*ck do I care? Point is, we got no worries at all; Now finish your beers."
~~Finally I admitted defeat and made my way to the research desk. An Ichabod Crane lookalike regarded my approach like that of a flea-bitten stray.
Further Reading: Shane's brother, Jake, served in WWII, and was a POW on the Japanese ship, Oryoku Maru. Von Doviak correctly references real life when Jake describes his hellish experience of trying to survive when American planes bombed the ship (not knowing there were POWs on board). Read more about it here. https://www.archives.gov/publications...
September 15, 2020
Opening to glitz and glamour in the early 20th century, the Charlesgate Hotel was a crown jewel in the city of Boston. By 1946 however, it was home to some less than savory characters. When a card game featuring some of Boston’s most notorious criminals gets upended and looted, those responsible find themselves in the unenviable position of having to pay back the man they stole from. Years later, when the hotel had become a dormitory for Emerson College, one of the students working for the school newspaper decides to dig into the building’s past and investigate the aforementioned crime. Jumping ahead nearly thirty years, a detective is tasked with investigating a murder in the Charlesgate, now a suite of high-end luxury condos.
Is that confusing? I hope it isn’t. Scott Von Doviak’s Charlesgate Confidential finds a thread running through nearly seventy years of history weaving it in and out of the lives of those taking residence in the old Boston building. Jumping from era to era to era through concurrent chapters, Von Doviak crafts an intriguing mystery keeping me glued to the pages for long stretches of time. I think I read this one in two days? It definitely lends itself to the definition of a page-turner, which was surprising to me as I’m usually not a big fan of multiple timelines with multiple characters within one narrative.
I will say that I found the present day portion of the book the least interesting of the three plot lines. I understand the need for it to tie everything together, but I didn’t find it quite as interesting as the 40s or 80s eras. Also, with the ’46 and ’86 years, Von Doviak had tied in infamous Boston Red Sox world series appearances as the backdrop, whereas in the 2014 section, the Sox already had a few championships under their belts and the luster had vanished, losing a little bit of that charm.
A modern entry from the publishing house, Charlesgate Confidential is another good bit of pulp from the fine folks at Hard Case Crime and one I hope to revisit someday.
Is that confusing? I hope it isn’t. Scott Von Doviak’s Charlesgate Confidential finds a thread running through nearly seventy years of history weaving it in and out of the lives of those taking residence in the old Boston building. Jumping from era to era to era through concurrent chapters, Von Doviak crafts an intriguing mystery keeping me glued to the pages for long stretches of time. I think I read this one in two days? It definitely lends itself to the definition of a page-turner, which was surprising to me as I’m usually not a big fan of multiple timelines with multiple characters within one narrative.
I will say that I found the present day portion of the book the least interesting of the three plot lines. I understand the need for it to tie everything together, but I didn’t find it quite as interesting as the 40s or 80s eras. Also, with the ’46 and ’86 years, Von Doviak had tied in infamous Boston Red Sox world series appearances as the backdrop, whereas in the 2014 section, the Sox already had a few championships under their belts and the luster had vanished, losing a little bit of that charm.
A modern entry from the publishing house, Charlesgate Confidential is another good bit of pulp from the fine folks at Hard Case Crime and one I hope to revisit someday.
February 26, 2023
I know I read this book too fast, I just couldn't help it. Which means, sometime in the near future, I will certainly read it again. There's so much to love in Charlesgate Confidential: the virtuosity of three interlocked timelines, the compelling mystery of a massive art theft, the Boston scenery so vividly rendered, the Red Sox obsession worn like a badge of honor, and a gallery of characters that leave a deep mark - the good, the bad, all of them flawed and endearing. I had a soft spot for Jake, the troubled criminal, but he's only one of the richly developed personalities in this book. Scott Von Doviak is a brilliant storyteller.
August 14, 2022
A fast-moving novel loosely based on a theft of art from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, moving back and forth between 1946, 1986, and 2014. A great combination of 40s noir and modern police procedural, wrapped around a 1980s college story reminiscent of Donna Tartt’s ‘Secret History.’
March 6, 2019
I loved this book it was really amazing. Just happened to see this in the new section at the library it was so good. Definlty 5 stars!!
June 29, 2019
fun, light read, especially the authors use of alternating time periods to tell the story.
January 6, 2023
Pleasant enough crime caper. The story cuts from 1946, 1986 and 2014 starting with an art robbery. Not a noir masterpiece but ok.
September 24, 2018
Charlesgate Confidential is a hard to put down page turner. The story told across three time periods is packed with all the good stuff: history, whodunit, treasure hunts, murder and baseball. Highly recommend this first novel from Mr. Von Doviak and even though the Socks don't win the 86 Series (again!) the well crafted writing, witty and realistic dialogue and a dorm full of interesting characters make you believe that anything is possible!
November 29, 2023
Hard Case Crime undoubtedly offers some of the finest cover work in the industry, harking back to an era we never should have left. Aesthetically, at least.
Charlesgate Confidential follows the fortunes of the real life Charlesgate building across three eras: its life as a hotel in 1946, its dormitory incarnation in 1986, and its repurposing into upper class apartments in 2014. Tying each era together is the fate of art stolen from a museum in 1946, its investigation, and later its attempted rediscovery.
Scott Von Doviak, a reformed pop culture writer, knows exactly how to make this sort of story work. With a blatant disregard for his characters' wellbeing, the only people guaranteed safe are those whom we know exist across both 1986 and 2014 - and they're only safe in 1986, of course.
Charlesgate Confidential is what you might call a romp. There's no reason for everyone to be so scantily clad on the cover, but when it comes to Hard Case Crime, it's fine if that image is tangential at best. Combining the best of classic crime novels in which multiple people die in horrible ways, with the a lighter touch for the more modern proceedings, Scott Von Doviak is a name to watch out for - not just a cover.
Charlesgate Confidential follows the fortunes of the real life Charlesgate building across three eras: its life as a hotel in 1946, its dormitory incarnation in 1986, and its repurposing into upper class apartments in 2014. Tying each era together is the fate of art stolen from a museum in 1946, its investigation, and later its attempted rediscovery.
Scott Von Doviak, a reformed pop culture writer, knows exactly how to make this sort of story work. With a blatant disregard for his characters' wellbeing, the only people guaranteed safe are those whom we know exist across both 1986 and 2014 - and they're only safe in 1986, of course.
Charlesgate Confidential is what you might call a romp. There's no reason for everyone to be so scantily clad on the cover, but when it comes to Hard Case Crime, it's fine if that image is tangential at best. Combining the best of classic crime novels in which multiple people die in horrible ways, with the a lighter touch for the more modern proceedings, Scott Von Doviak is a name to watch out for - not just a cover.
January 7, 2019
Outstanding Boston noir, with three linked stories over 70 years. 4.5, but rounding down as a protest against grade inflation.
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