Hidden behind the Picassos and Vermeers, the Temple of Dendur and the American Wing, exists another world: the hallways and offices, conservation studios, storerooms, and cafeteria that are home to the museum's devoted and peculiar staff of 2,200 people-along with a few ghosts. A surreal love letter to this private side of the Met, Metropolitan Stories unfolds in a series of amusing and poignant vignettes in which we discover larger-than-life characters,...

Ras, a Tamil exile working at London's National Gallery, is awaiting trial for the theft of a Renaissance masterpiece. Searching for the truth behind her client's act, Ras's lawyer, Elizabeth, must piece together his story and that of enigmatic British writer Alex Benson. The trail she follows leads from Sri Lanka to the hills of Italy where, despite the serenity of the landscape, war's shadow looms long and large."--Page 4 of cover.

Mona Lisa St. James made a deathbed promise that she would do anything to save her mother's art gallery. Unfortunately, not only is The Red painted red, but it's in the red. Just as she realizes she has no choice but to sell it, a mysterious man comes in after closing time and makes her an offer: He will save The Red if she agrees to submit to him for the period of one year. The man is handsome, English, and terribly tempting...but surely her mother...