Scarlett is a university graduate with a master's in biophysics and a chip on her shoulder. 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. And they've taken an instant--and intense--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. It's a mystery Leonardo is compelled to solve, or else his notebooks may never be 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'll steal the manuscript. They land a publisher, change their names, disguise their looks, and set off across northern Italy in a frantic race to publish the story and disappear for good.But have they underestimated the deadly resolve of their client? Carefully researched and faithfully rendered, Octavo is a breathtaking historical mystery, a pulse-pounding modern thriller, and a loving evocation of Leonardo's times, penned with indelible characters and studded with wondrous discoveries.
Marty Neumeier is an internationally known writer, designer, and educator. His mission is to bring the principles of design to a world roiled by change. In 1985, he began working with creative companies such as Apple, HP, Adobe, Google, and YouTube to help build their brands and foster company-wide innovation. In 1996, he founded Critique magazine, the first journal on design thinking. After eight books on branding, Marty is widely considered the world's leading expert. His innovative series of "whiteboard overviews" includes Zag, named one of the "top hundred business books of all time," and The Brand Gap, a classic read by 25 million people. In its sequel, The Brand Flip, he proposed a revolutionary process for building a business in the age of social media. He then wrote Scramble, a fast-paced "business thriller" about agile strategy. Metaskills, the inspiration for Octavo, argued for human creativity in a future mediated by intelligent machines. His prolific writing has led to hundreds of workshops and speaking engagements worldwide. Today he teaches innovation through his organization Level C, sometimes referred to as "the Bauhaus of brand." He also serves as Director of Transformation for Liquid Agency, a Silicon Valley firm that designs brand cultures for large organizations. Marty resides in Mexico with his wife and editor, Eileen, and their two dogs, ZaZu and Smoocher Boy. The couple's daughter, Sara, a yacht chef, often stops by to regale them with her seagoing adventures. Octavo is Marty's first general-audience thriller.
