SOTHEBY'S: THE INSIDE STORY

SOTHEBY'S: THE INSIDE STORY Peter Watson (Random House, $25) Art journalist Watson spent years investigating rumors that Sotheby's -- along with Christie's, the hoity-toitiest auctioneering house -- regularly sold artwork and artifacts that had been illegally exported from their mother countries. This book traces Watson's sophisticated sting operations in Italy and India -- complete with actors posing as art sellers, and Sotheby's higher-ups caught on hidden video cameras explaining their smuggling practices -- that cast serious doubt on the auction house's denial of wrongdoing. The subject of a recent 60 Minutes segment, Watson here elaborates his crusade against devious art dealing into a provocative, exhaustive, at times exhaustingly detailed account. B+