ABOVE: the mountain that gives Puy-de-Dome its name. French police (not pictured) said they cracked an art theft ring operating in the area on Friday.

Such gallic charm, the French: pensioners can sizzle to death in their apartments in downtown Paris during a heat wave, but show them an art theft ring operating in the scenic Puy-de-Dome countryside, and they’ll put 390 investigators on it for 15 months straight.

Sounding like some evil-parallel-universe version of the Antiques Roadshow, the accused theives—many of whom were part of the same family and some of whom “specialized in bronzes, others in paintings or furniture,” as the prosecutor assigned to the case put it—had made off with millions by nicking priceless pieces from the homes of wealthy toffs and re-selling them (it would be too cynical, of course, to suggest that the presence of the wealthy toffs was what drove such a costly and time-consuming investigation. Right?). 60 arrests were made in total; 500 pieces were seized, and $2.7 million in cash. That’s a lot of baguettes.

French Police Bust Art-Trafficking Ring [AP via Yahoo]