The Gilded Seal — James Twining

It takes a thief to catch a killer . . .

Once one of the world's foremost art thieves, Tom Kirk now operates on the other side of the law. But a grisly discovery at the site of the brazen theft of a Da Vinci painting -- a crime that bears the unmistakable hallmark of an old nemesis -- entangles him in a lethal weave of a mystery that blankets the globe . . . and reaches back through hundreds of years of European history.

In Spain, a friend, a master forger, suffers a brutal, horrific death -- while in New York the murder of a prominent attorney drags FBI agent Jennifer Browne into the murky world of high-end art forgery and the rotten heart of the global auction business. And for Kirk, vengeance may require him to cross the line once more -- to uncover the devastating secrets hidden in the writings of a power-mad emperor . . . and behind the most famous smile in the world.