Smoke

Late one night during the fiery days of the Iranian revolution two figures slip into the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art and steal twelve of the worlds most valuable paintings. Heres what the thieves dont know: most of the paintings are fake.Decades later when she ought to be enjoying a sedate retirement from the field M.J. Smith remains on active duty as an agent of the secretive Quixote Ltd. But now that shes broken her leg in a motorcycle accident her bosses have sent her to a nursing home to recover. She doesnt know why but she doesnt think it has anything to do with the geriatric production of Macbeth shes been inveigled to take part in-until one of the witches drops dead in the middle of opening afternoon.Called in to work on a theft recovery M.J. is surprised to discover the surviving witches across the conference table and astonished when shes handed a list of stolen paintings to recover. She knows these paintings; she once stole them herself.Now M.J. has several mysteries to solve. Who stole the paintings and how can she get them back? Are they the real paintings or another set of fakes? If theyre real how did they end up in a house in suburban Washington D.C.? Was the third witch murdered for them? And how soon can she ditch the crutches?From the author of the popular Cat Caliban series comes another older woman detective an agent reminiscent of Dorothy Gilmans Mrs. Pollifax.