ITW contributing editor Mark Terry recently chatted with James Twining about his new thriller, THE GILDED SEAL.

Some writers have all the luck. James Twining’s latest novel, THE GILDED SEAL, published on October 15, 2007 in the U.K. and pretty much the rest of the world with the exception of the U.S., features recurring hero, ex-art thief Tom Kirk. The new book involves three real life art thefts. One is the 1911 theft of the Mona Lisa, a second is the 2003 theft of the da Vinci painting, “The Madonna of Yarnwinder” and the third is an art fraud case out of New York City. Conveniently for Twining, The Madonna of Yarnwinder was recovered on October 5th and arrests made, only ten days prior to the release of his latest novel.

Twining says, “The story is one where Tom is hired to investigate the theft of the Madonna of Yarnwinder and gets distracted by the murder of an old friend. When he investigates, he discovers there’s a major plot to steal the Mona Lisa.”

Twining lives in London with his wife and two daughters. He notes that he used to work on Wall Street, then left to open his own business, which he eventually sold. “I didn’t make a lot of money, but enough to take a year off and write the first book (THE DOUBLE EAGLE) and that’s what I’ve been doing since.”

Growing up in Paris and working and living in the U.S. and the U.K. have proven to be useful fodder for novels that hopscotch around the world. Twining says THE GILDED SEAL “starts in Spain. One of the things I loved about Robert Ludlum’s books was the way the story jumps all over different locations and different strands come together. It moves to Scotland, to London, to New York, to Paris and finally to Havana.”

Although not formally trained in art, which plays such a huge role in his books, Twining notes that he was raised in Paris. “One of the things about growing up in Paris is your parents are always dragging you around to all the great museums. I went grudgingly, with a fight, but in time grew to appreciate it. What I really like besides the aesthetics are the stories behind the art: where it’s been, what battles were involved, was it stolen. I was always very interested in the stories behind the art.”

His recurring series character, Tom Kirk, is half-American, half-English. At one time he was a spy for the U.S. government, but “the government forced him out and he became an art thief.” After going straight, Kirk now is pulled in by various groups to help recover stolen items. Twining notes, “By the standard measure of morality he’s a bad guy. He’s a thief, a killer, but he’s also got a strong moral center. He provides the moral compass for the entire book. Of good and evil people, it’s often the supposedly bad people who display the greater good and the supposedly good people who display the great acts of badness. He’s heroic despite his credentials and I think that creates an interesting relationship with the reader because they’re rooting for the ‘bad guy’ and booing the ‘good guys.’ It gives the reader a different kind of experience.”

Although the U.S. publication date of THE GILDED SEAL is still unknown, Twining’s second Tom Kirk novel, THE BLACK SUN, is due out from HarperCollins in mass market paperback around Christmas 2007. His books have been translated into more than twenty languages.

Mark Terry is an ITW contributing editor and the author of the Derek Stillwater thrillers, the latest of which is THE SERPENT’S KISS. Visit his website at www.markterrybooks.com.