Portrait of a Lady
A Leonardo DaVinci Mystery
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $4.99
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
The legendary Renaissance man and amateur sleuth is back in this exciting follow-up to The Queen's Gambit. As court engineer to the Duke of Milan, Leonardo da Vinci turns his superior mind to a variety of pursuits-from painting to solving the occasional murder. After the deaths of two female servants, Leonardo asks his apprentice, Dino, to go undercover disguised as a woman in the service of the Duke's ward, Contessa Caterina. This should be easy enough, given that "Dino" is in reality Delfina, a young woman masquerading as a boy to serve as Leonardo's apprentice. Delfina is soon torn between her loyalty to Leonardo and her growing feelings for Gregorio, the handsome captain of the Duke's guard. But if what the Contessa's tarot cards foretold is correct, Delfina might be destined to lose her heart...and perhaps her life.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Fans of Stuckart's impressive debut, The Queen's Gambit (2008), may wish Leonardo da Vinci, the ultimate Renaissance man, was on stage more often in this sequel. As readers of the previous book know, the artist's apprentice, Dino, who serves as narrator, is secretly a woman, Delfina. When Bellanca, a servant to the duke of Milan's ward, Contessa Caterina, falls to her death from a tower, Leonardo's investigation into what proves to be a murder case requires that Delfina pose as a female servant herself. Bellanca's death is soon followed by that of another member of Contessa Caterina's retinue. Already hard-pressed to maintain the deception, Delfina finds her undercover role complicated by a somewhat predictable romantic entanglement with a handsome soldier. Da Vinci emerges at the end to solve the crimes in an action-packed sequence more reminiscent of Magnum than Columbo. As in The Queen's Gambit, Stuckart convincingly captures the flavor of 15th-century Italy.
