" There isn't anyone in the business," he went on, "who hasn't been accused of selling a forged piece, by accident or design, over the years. And then there's the current brouhaha in the auction houses, with the government charging sellers with rigging the bids to knock up the prices. On the surface, gentlemen, it's a world of exquisite beauty and refinement. But it's every bit as filthy and cutthroat as any other commercial enterprise, as soon as you get beneath the top layer of gouache "

― Linda Fairstein , Cold Hit (Alexandra Cooper, #3)