Nine Lives : Confessions of a Master Jewel Thief - Softcover

Bill Mason

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0593052005 ISBN 13: 9780593052006

Publisher: Bantam Press, 2004

Synopsis

The extraordinarily captivating memoir of the remarkable jewel thief who robbed the rich and the famous while maintaining an outwardly conventional life—an astonishing and completely true story, the like of which has never before been told . . . or lived.

Bill Mason is arguably the greatest jewel thief who ever lived. During a thirty-year career he charmed his way into the inner circles of high society and stole more than $35 million worth of fabulous jewels from such celebrities as Robert Goulet, Armand Hammer, Phyllis Diller, Bob Hope, Truman Capote, Margaux Hemingway and Johnny Weissmuller—he even hit the Mafia. Along the way he seduced a high-profile Midwest socialite into leaving her prominent industrialist husband, nearly died after being shot during a robbery, tricked both Christie’s and Sotheby’s into fencing stolen goods for him and was a fugitive for five years and the object of a nationwide manhunt. Yet despite the best efforts of law enforcement authorities from several states as well as the federal government, he spent less than three years total in prison.

Shadowy, elusive and intensely private, Mason has been the subject of many magazine and newspaper features, but no journalist has ever come close to knowing the facts. Now, in his own words and with no holds barred, he reveals everything, and the real story is far more incredible than any of the reporters, detectives or FBI agents who pursued Mason ever imagined. Confessions of a Master Jewel Thief, expertly co-written by bestselling author Lee Gruenfeld, is a unique true-crime confessional.

About this title

About the Author

Bill Mason, is to the best of our knowledge the most successful jewel thief that the USA has ever known. While working as a real estate manager and investor and raising a family with his first wife, he excelled in his after-hours career as a jewel thief. He currently lives with his second wife in New York City.

Review

" 'Tremendous... As always, real life, when properly described, is vastly more fascinating than fiction, and you need to look no further for proof than Bill Mason's amazing story' Frank Abagnale, author of Catch Me If You Can 'Amazing... Mason tells his story with such flair and confidence that I felt I was dangling from a twenty-storey ledge right along with him' Eric Garcia, author of Matchstick Men"

Edition details

• Publisher: Bantam Press
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0593052005
• ISBN 13: 9780593052006
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 369