Octavo

<p><strong style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>A marvelously erudite novel...Neumeier has created a genuinely captivating story a drama that is utterly mesmerizing and thrums with suspense. - <em>Kirkus Reviews</em></strong></p><p></p><p><strong style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>...gripping...an enthralling novel...In the engaging thriller <em>Octavo</em> artists and thieves collide for a greater good. - <em>Foreword Clarion Reviews</em></strong></p><p></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1); background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0)>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.</span></p><p></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1); background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0)>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.</span></p><p></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1); background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0)>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.  </span></p><p></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1); background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0)>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. </span></p><p></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1); background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0)>But have they underestimated the resolve of their powerful client? </span></p>