By Donald Beckwith

Roscoe Pine is an art‑theft investigator who specializes in recovering stolen masterpieces and smuggled antiquities. When a wealthy bond trader hires him to verify the authenticity of a pen‑and‑ink drawing attributed to Vincent van Gogh, Pine expects a straightforward assignment. Instead, he uncovers a pair of sophisticated forgery operations run by two gifted underground artists and a ruthless manager who controls a stable of talented but naïve imitators.

As Pine digs deeper, he stumbles upon a clique of professional art thieves—criminals polished enough to blend into Manhattan society and brutal enough to kill to protect their enterprise. Seeing an opportunity to elevate his reputation, Pine pursues both the forgery case and the theft ring simultaneously. But the thieves quickly recognize the threat he poses, and Pine becomes a target in a game where a single drawing may be worth a million dollars…and a human life far less.

Complicating matters further, Pine’s client is the father of Nola, the woman he loves. Their relationship is already fraught, and her father’s threat to disinherit her if she marries Pine raises the stakes far beyond the art world.

UPCOMING