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For seven years a no-account painter named Han van Meegeren managed to pass off his paintings as those of one of the most beloved and admired artists who ever lived. As Edward Dolnick reveals, his true genius lay in psychological manipulation, and he came within inches of fooling the world. Instead, he landed in an Amsterdam court on trial for his life. The Forger’s Spell is the gripping, true tale of this almost perfect crime.","forthcoming":false,"isbn13":"9780061844591","publication_date":"20091013","publisher":"HarperCollins","slug":"the-forger-s-spell","subtitle":"A True Story of Vermeer, Nazis, and the Greatest Art Hoax of the Twentieth Century","title":"The Forger's Spell"},"discovery":{"categories":{"all":[{"bisac_code":"ART015030","confidence_band":"medium","label":"European Art","score":0.7317,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"ART015100","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Modern Art History (to 1945)","score":0.7249,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"ART015020","confidence_band":"medium","label":"American Art","score":0.7246,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"hint":[{"bisac_code":"ART015030","confidence_band":"medium","label":"European Art","score":0.7317,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"ART015100","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Modern Art History (to 1945)","score":0.7249,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"ART015020","confidence_band":"medium","label":"American Art","score":0.7246,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"publisher":[{"bisac_code":"ART015000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Art History","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"ART015030","confidence_band":"high","label":"European Art","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"TRU004000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Cons, Hoaxes & Scams","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"}]},"genres":[{"label":"European Art","score":0.7317,"slug":"european-art"},{"label":"Modern Art History (to 1945)","score":0.7249,"slug":"modern-art-history-to-1945"},{"label":"American Art","score":0.7246,"slug":"american-art"}],"reader_fit":["Good for readers interested in art forgery and psychological deception","Readers drawn to true-crime stories and courtroom trials"],"related_lists":[],"series":null,"similar_books":[{"authors":["Sharon Cameron"],"book_id":"9781338813975","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781338813975.jpg?v=4ce7782bb9e4273f","score":0.7654,"title":"Artifice","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781338813975"},{"authors":["Michael Finkel"],"book_id":"9781984898456","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781984898456.jpg?v=7c8d5bc3dd369e55","score":0.7635,"title":"The Art Thief","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781984898456"},{"authors":["Ulrich Boser"],"book_id":"9780061972867","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780061972867.jpg?v=c70b1d1f6016d700","score":0.7522,"title":"The Gardner Heist","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780061972867"},{"authors":["Timothy Miller"],"book_id":"9781645060420","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781645060420.jpg?v=e4e4628960cb876b","score":0.7248,"title":"The Strange Case of the Dutch Painter","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781645060420"},{"authors":["Publications International Ltd.","Publications International"],"book_id":"9781645586340","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781645586340.jpg?v=20f2459ce5b42c18","score":0.7241,"title":"The Book of Criminal Minds","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781645586340"},{"authors":["Nicholas Day"],"book_id":"9780593904213","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780593904213.jpg?v=03682c5f4601656e","score":0.719,"title":"The Mona Lisa Vanishes","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780593904213"}],"topics":[{"evidence_refs":["keyword:historical fiction"],"label":"Historical","score":0.1137,"slug":"historical"},{"evidence_refs":["phrase_map_match"],"label":"Book Club","score":0.0215,"slug":"book-club"}],"what_you_get":["Themes: Art forgery, Psychological manipulation, Fraud and crime.","Pacing: fast, momentum-driven storytelling.","Story elements: The almost-perfect crime."]},"llm_signals":{"confidence":0.94,"pacing":"fast","reader_fit":["Readers interested in art forgery and psychological deception","Readers drawn to true-crime stories and courtroom trials"],"themes":["Art forgery","Psychological manipulation","Fraud and crime"],"tropes":["The almost-perfect crime"]},"source_presence":{"amazon":true,"book_detail":true,"goodreads":true,"llm_signals":true,"similarity_seed":true},"stats":{"amazon_ratings_count":0,"goodreads_ratings_count":5151,"goodreads_reviews_count":537,"quality_score":0.9376}}