The Provenance of Lies

She recognises a painting that supposedly burned eight years ago. The man who can help her prove it is the man whose silence helped destroy her family.

Mara Ellis has rebuilt her life by trusting what she can prove. But at an exclusive London viewing, one tiny restoration mark exposes an impossible secret: a painting declared destroyed in a warehouse fire is hanging in plain sight, disguised as a lesser work.

Recovery investigator Adrian Vale knows how to follow money through a room full of beautiful lies. He also knows what Mara stands to lose. Years ago, his silence helped ruin her father's reputation-and he has never told her the whole story.

Working together could salvage Mara's career and prevent a disputed masterpiece from vanishing into private hands. It also means getting dangerously close to a man whose composure slips whenever she is near.

As the sale deadline approaches, they uncover altered records, frightened witnesses and a conspiracy powerful enough to bury anyone who asks the wrong question. Mara can document every fracture in a painting's history. The one thing she cannot establish is whether Adrian's desire for her is matched by his honesty.

The Provenance of Lies is Book One of the Mara & Adrian Trilogy-atmospheric adult romantic suspense with a fiercely independent heroine, a morally complicated hero and a love story tested by betrayal. The painting mystery reaches a meaningful resolution in this volume; Mara and Adrian's relationship continues across the trilogy.