Can you believe that the second of August this year will mark the 40th anniversary of the theft of The Weeping Woman from the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV)? I can’t, but there you go! This heist remains an enduring mystery, not least because it is still largely unsolved. Who were the individuals behind the ‘Australian Cultural Terrorists’ group, who claimed responsibility for the theft and demanded the ransom? We may never know. There was a rumour that a beloved former NGV colleague, long since passed, knew who was behind it all, but if he did, he took the secret to his grave. In any case, there is a canon of books on the matter. To this we can add A.T. Prewett’s fun take, The Picasso Ransom. It hypothesises the involvement of a trio of mature-aged fine-arts students who steal the painting in protest at the devastating funding cuts on the horizon that would see the closure of their much-valued arts school.

With great affection, Prewett captures the key personnel. There’s the eccentric but brilliant Paul McCracken in place of Patrick McCaughey, replete with a similar bow-tie collection. The likeness of the man at the heart of it all, Race Matthews, who at the time jointly held both the Arts and Police portfolios in the Victorian Government, is here summoned in the character of Ray Montrose.

This book is a lot of fun and is full of clever jokes, right down to a Clarke and Dawe-esque interview that had me in stitches, and a hilarious ‘I’m Spartacus/Brian’ moment that I’m sure the Pythons would be proud of. Prewett is part of a new ad hoc movement of crime writers wresting back the genre from rural areas, returning it to the city with its grimy streets and dinging trams.

The Picasso Ransom is a fabulous celebration of Melbourne, from Roy Grounds’ brutalist bunker on St Kilda Road, to the Tote, to the old Robur Tea House, to Fitzroy’s bustling Brunswick Street, and HM Prison Pentridge – oh, and even TISM! While this book may well be considered cosy crime, it is also a timely reminder of an extreme response to ‘slash and burn’ attitudes towards arts funding!