The Picasso Heist — James Patterson; Howard Roughan

There are millions of reasons why Halston Graham became an undercover art thief.

The art world ignites with the discovery of a previously unknown Picasso painting. After being hidden away for fifty years in the attic of a French villa, it's valued at $100 million and put up for auction. Echelon, the Upper East Side auction house brokering the sale, is flooded with interest. Wealthy collectors and museum directors circle publicly, while organized-crime operatives -- and a surveillance team from the Criminal Division of the US Attorney's Office -- keep a lower profile.

None of the interested parties have a chance at winning the Picasso without the help of Halston Graham. The young auction-house employee graduated second in her class at Columbia, but she's a first-rate art thief -- and an expert gambler who knows how to calculate the odds and play her considerable leverage against all sides.

To complete the Picasso Heist, she must stay one step ahead of the truth before the gavel falls.