201 Seconds · The reading companion
The Crime Files.
Follow the crimes across the trilogy. Trace the dates, the places and the artwork that connects them.
Dates, places and case titles are visible. Open a file only when you are ready for its volume’s spoilers.
14Selected case files
3Volumes
1945–2028Story chronology
The case archive
Follow the story, not the chapter order.
Flashbacks come first. Each file includes its date, location, volume, brief account and artwork connection. Attempted crimes and related evidence discoveries are labelled separately.
Origins1945–2012
Before the opening crime
Three earlier crimes revealed in later volumes. Save these files until you have finished Volumes II and III.
The last shipmentVolume II spoilers · Open case file
Art diversion and murder
Friedrich Keller secretly diverts eighty-eight looted paintings to a hidden cache. He kills three soldiers and falsifies the records, leaving the collection concealed beyond the end of the war.
Volume II · Chapter 9
Related artwork
Raphael’s Portrait of a Young Man, alongside other paintings in the concealed collection.
View the Raphael in the Art Gallery
This is a fictional episode in the novel, not a documented account of the real painting’s wartime disappearance.
The betrayalVolume II spoilers · Open case file
Theft and murder
Hours after Alton’s meeting with the custodians, Victor Keller takes the Raphael and shoots his father, Josef. The betrayal separates the painting from the collection it was meant to help restore.
Volume II · Chapter 23
The Geneva penthouseVolume III spoilers · Open case file
Jewelry and art theft
Alton, Tatum, Reese and Marcus steal jewelry and two paintings from Éléonore Pictet’s penthouse. The aftermath forces them to confront the harm their rules did not prevent.
Volume III · Chapters 21 and 26
Related artwork
Renoir and Degas paintings are identified by artist; the titles are not stated in this scene.
The chapter is dated June 16. Its overnight sequence continues after midnight, followed by the June 17 aftermath.
Volume I2025–2026
The pattern emerges
Kidnappings, thefts and an attempted removal begin to connect. One file records an artwork discovery rather than the date of the original thefts.
The Keller caseVolume I spoilers · Open case file
Kidnapping, extortion and art theft
Claire Keller is abducted from Lenox Mall while a visitor confronts her father in Buckhead. Victor surrenders cash and a hidden painting. Claire is released; the opening operation takes 189 seconds.
Volume I · Chapters 1–2 and 14
Related artwork
The hidden painting is later identified as Raphael’s Portrait of a Young Man. Other valuable paintings in the house are left behind.
189 seconds is the timing of this case. The group’s average is 201 seconds; not every crime lasts exactly that long.
The Maravilla incidentVolume I spoilers · Open case file
Coordinated theft
During a gala at Alton’s Maravilla tower, the elevators stop for 201 seconds. A senator’s second phone, a crypto wallet and a confidential merger agreement disappear while attention remains on a heavily guarded painting.
Volume I · Chapter 7
Related artwork
A Monet on loan from a private collector. It remains untouched; its title is not given.
This is not the named Monet involved in the separate upside-down rehanging discussed in Chapter 21.
The diamond shipmentVolume I spoilers · Open case file
Cargo theft
A shipment of Botswana diamonds is diverted while a decoy aircraft continues toward Miami. The expected arrival hides the fact that the valuable cargo is elsewhere.
Volume I · Chapter 12
Related artwork
No artwork is identified in this operation. The target is the diamond shipment.
The mermaidsVolume I spoilers · Open case file
Kidnapping and cryptocurrency extortion
A morning waterskiing trip ends with Robert abducted and pressured into transferring cryptocurrency. His son Justin later finds him alive on the shore, struggling to explain what happened.
Volume I · Chapter 17
Related artwork
No artwork is identified as a target. Cryptocurrency is taken.
The Nagoya correctionVolume I spoilers · Open case file
Threats and financial extortion
Financier Kaito Mori is confronted during lunch and threatened through his wife’s safety. He makes two large transfers before she is released unharmed, exposing the vulnerability behind his wealth.
Volume I · Chapter 24
Related artwork
No artwork is identified as a target. The case concerns coerced financial transfers.
The Lakeside interruptionVolume I spoilers · Open case file
Attempted manuscript theft — abandoned
Intruders reach Leonardo da Vinci’s notebook inside a lakeside residence. An unexpected arrival interrupts the operation, and they leave without the manuscript.
Volume I · Chapters 26–27
Related artwork
Leonardo da Vinci’s Codex Leicester — the target remains in place, untaken and unharmed.
The August 2 entry is the attempt. Tatum’s investigation at the residence occurs the following day.
Three paintings behind a wallVolume I spoilers · Open case file
Related evidence file — artwork discovery
Agents searching FBI Director Étienne Moreau’s home find three celebrated missing works. Their presence turns the investigation toward the people entrusted to lead it.
Volume I · Chapters 29–30
Related artwork
Raphael’s Portrait of a Young Man; Vermeer’s The Concert; and The Just Judges from the Ghent Altarpiece.
The Raphael
The Concert
The Just Judges
August 5 is the date of the fictional discovery, not the date the works were originally stolen. The novel’s events are separate from their real-world histories.
The fundraiser RenoirVolume I spoilers · Open case file
Art theft
A Renoir disappears from view during an after-hours fundraiser at the Musée d’Orsay on August 8. The chapter’s Monday follow-through completes its removal from the building.
Volume I · Chapter 35
Related artwork
Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s Dance at Bougival. The chapter names this specific work.
The loan and theft belong to the fiction. The real painting is in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston: read the museum’s artwork record.
Volume IIFebruary 2028
One operation, national stakes
The central present-day case connects Disney, Atlanta and the return of a much older collection.
The Super Bowl demandMajor Volume II spoilers · Open case file
Coordinated disruption and ransom demand
Disruptions at Disney become a crisis at Atlanta’s Super Bowl. The demand shifts to the United States government, and a $100 billion transfer is completed. The following revelations connect the money to restitution for 433 recovered paintings.
Volume II · Chapters 1–3, 21, 24, 30 and 34–39
Related artwork
The hidden collection of 433 paintings drives the operation’s purpose; it is not a new theft of all 433 works on this date.
February 13 is the operation date. The collection and restitution arrangement are revealed on February 15. This day-long crisis should not be described as a single 201-second theft.
Volume IIIJune 2028
The rules meet their consequences
A failed kidnapping and a coordinated attack on the evidence record bring the group’s choices into focus.
The garage mistakeMajor Volume III spoilers · Open case file
Attempted kidnapping with a fatal outcome
An attempt to seize Jean-Paul Marchand in a parking garage goes wrong when his bodyguard intervenes. Eli Barak is killed, and Reese’s responsibility for the operation becomes central to the investigation.
Volume III · Chapters 1–5
Related artwork
No artwork is identified as the target of this operation.
The 201-second operationMajor Volume III spoilers · Open case file
Evidence interference and planted artwork
A coordinated 201-second operation removes key evidence and disrupts the government’s ability to reconstruct its financial case. A painting is also placed in a family property to create a misleading connection.
Volume III · Chapters 23, 28–32 and 35–36
Related artwork
A Childe Hassam painting, used as planted evidence rather than recovered during this operation.
The synchronized operation starts at 4:13 p.m. Eastern. This entry does not assert an exact time for the separate evidence-box handover.
Fiction, not a police record. These are selected events from Jim Beach’s novels. The artworks are real; the crimes, characters and connections described here belong to the fiction. For historical context and artwork sources, visit the Art Gallery.
Keep investigating
The files connect. The novels reveal why.
Follow the wider chronology in the Timeline, or explore the real masterpieces behind the story.