Painted Lies: A Public Trust Legal Thriller (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798278516668)

Rosco Wheeler has spent five years running from his past. He reinvented himself as a charm-heavy fixer for the Public Trust, leaving his life as a high-end art thief behind.

But the past has a way of catching up. And this time, it kicked down the front door.

When Harlin Banks returns home to find his apartment destroyed and a knife pinning a playing card to the wall, the message is clear: We have him.

Julian Devereaux, a ruthless Creole mob boss from New Orleans, has kidnapped Rosco. The ransom? The Open Window, a priceless Matisse painting that Rosco stole five years ago and supposedly destroyed.

Devereaux gives Harlin forty-eight hours to find the painting and bring it to the ghostly columns of the Windsor Ruins, or Rosco dies.

Harlin is a lawyer, not a treasure hunter. But to save his friend, he has to think like a thief. With Sam Rourke providing the firepower, Harlin follows a trail of cryptic clues Rosco left behind-clues that lead from the dusty stacks of the State Law Library to the high-society world of art forgery.

But they aren't the only ones looking. The FBI Art Crime Team is closing in, and a vengeful enemy from the Delta has returned to settle a score.

Trapped between the Feds, the Mob, and a clock that's running out, Harlin must orchestrate the most dangerous exchange of his life. To walk away alive, he doesn't just need the truth. He needs a lie so beautiful, everyone believes it.

Don't worry about the mule, just load the wagon.

The Public Trust faces their final test in this explosive season finale where the price of loyalty is higher than any painting.

"A masterpiece of suspense. Painted Lies brings the series to a heart-stopping conclusion that twists until the very last page."