My Readers Guide for The Parisian Heist by Jo Piazza has a character list, plot summary, spoilers and a Q and A.
Readers Guide for The Parisian Heist by Jo Piazza
Table of Contents
Jen’s Quick Take on The Parisian Heist
- My favorite part of this book: The real van Goghs that the historical part of The Parisian Heist was based on. The author clearly did a lot of research and that part of the story was fascinating.
- As a heist book, I thought this was a little disappointing. What I love about a heist is all the planning and this was a little thin on details.
- The Swanson family hisory and genealogy was confusing, but maybe the printed book will have a family tree, which would help a lot.
- I’d recommend this to fans of historical fiction
- Publication date: July 14, 2026 by Dutton. Thanks to them for the advance copy!
Character List for the Parisian Heist
The genealogy of the Swanson family got a little complicated; if you think I messed it up, leave a comment!
1996 Characters
- Emma: art student and cleaner for Stella
- Stella Swanson: billionaire
- Matthew: Stella’s step-grandson
- Caroline: Matthew’s sister
- Colette: Emma’s friend
- Lucie: Emma’s friend
1891 Characters
- Claire
- Jo van Gogh: Theo’s widow
- Theo van Gogh: Vincent van Gogh’s brother
- Maxwell Swanson: Stella’s late husband
- Louis: Maxwell’s son; Stella’s stepson
- Matthew: Louis’s son
- Isaac Israel: a painter
- Henrik Swanson: Maxwell’s father
Plot Summary for The Parisian Heist
1996 Paris:
Emma, an art student, cleans the Paris home of billionaire Stella Swanson for extra money. She meets Stella’s step-grandson, Matthew. Matthew takes Emma out for dinner and seems to be seeking information. His grandfather, Maxwell Swanson, was a major art dealer.
Stella has a hidden van Gogh!
1891 Paris:
Claire is watching Jo van Gogh, the widow of Vincent’s brother Theo. She saves Jo’s life. Jo needs money because Theo inherited all Vincent van Gogh’s remaining work, which no one wants. Claire is a sex worker.
The two timelines connect!
We learn that Claire was Stella’s grandmother and that Jo van Gogh gave her three paintings. Stella is taken to the hospital for emergency surgery, and dies.
BUT Stella’s only pretending to be dead. She meets with Emma and Emma’s friends Lucy and Colette. Stella wants to expose and destroy the Swanson galleries for selling fake paintings in the “shadow market” as a way to buy and sell illegal goods.
To do that, Stella wants the girls to steal two fake paintings from the Musée d’Orsay. Then Collette will pretend that the hidden van Gogh’s were discovered in her family’s ancestral cottage.
1891:
Claire is worried that Jo is going to marry a shady artist named Isaac Israel. She breaks them up by intercepting Claire’s mail. Claire sets Jo up with Jan Veth, and they marry.
1996:
Emma is stalking Matthew and making new fake paintings. (I think she wants to swap her fakes for the fakes in the museum, so that the museum fakes can be analyzed. It doesn’t make that much sense to me, so if you understand, please explain in comments!)
1891:
Claire has a daughter named Marie-Celeste who seems to have been fathered by one of the van Gogh brothers. Which would make Stella a van Gogh, right? Claire needs money, so she steals a van Gogh from Jo and tries to sell it to Henrik Swanson.
1996:
The girls’ heist plan is to call in a bomb threat to the museum, and then arrive to check it out. Emma also wants to steal something from Henrik’s safe and hide it in her underwear. She sneaks into the safe room and empties the safe, then hides the treasures behind a curtain. When Matthew comes in, she seduces him, then returns for the loot. After that, she drugs Matthew and takes him back to Stella’s
1891:
We learn that Theo was Claire’s client and the father of her daughter. Jo finds out and is not happy. She tells Claire to go to America.
1996:
The girls successfully carry out the heist, but Caroline finds out about the plot and locks Emma in the chamber with the hidden art. (Caroline was sleeping with Pascal, Emma’s art teacher, who ratted her out.)
One of the letters in Stella’s safe reveals that Jo forgave Claire and gave her a van Gogh sunflower painting. Colette publishes a book with Jo and Claire’s letters. Louis Swanson, Matthew’s father, is found guilty of selling fake art. Louis also changed Maxwell’s will; the company was actually sent to Stella.