Called upon by the Hammond Museum and renowned art scholar Dr. Ashton Prince, Spenser accepts his latest case: to provide protection during a ransom exchange — money for a stolen painting. The case becomes personal when Spenser fails to protect his client and is unable to recover the valuable painting. Convinced that Ashton Prince played a bigger role than just ransom delivery boy, Spenser enters into a daring game of cat-and-mouse with the thieves. But this is a game he might not come out of alive... Completed the year before the author passed away, Painted Ladies is Spenser and Robert B. Parker at their electrifying best