Octavo: A Novel

Scarlett is a university graduate with a master’s in biophysics. Artie is a retired professor of art history. They’ve been hired by a wealthy collector to authenticate a cache of paintings discovered under the floorboards of an Italian townhouse. The two women take an instant dislike to each other.

The calculus shifts when they stumble on something unexpected—a manuscript written by Leonardo da Vinci’s last pupil. It’s an astonishing firsthand account of the great master as he grapples with a murder at the prestigious Aldine Press. Unless he can solve the mystery, his notebooks may never get published.

Scarlett and Artie fear a similar fate might await the manuscript. If their client gets his acquisitive hands on it, he’ll bury it deep in his vault and the world will once again be deprived of Leonardo’s genius. 

They put aside their differences and make a pact: they decide to steal it. They land a publisher, change their names, disguise their looks, and set off across northern Italy in a frantic race to publish the manuscript and disappear for good.

But have they underestimated the resolve of their powerful client?

“A marvelously erudite novel.” —Kirkus Reviews