THE MYSTERY OF DA VINCI'S Monna Vanna

THE MYSTERY OF DA VINCI'S MONNA VANNA A fast-paced, well-researched historical novel. Leonardo da Vinci died in 1519. He left behind a godlike reputation in art, engineering, and science. Shortly before his death, visitors reported viewing four paintings at his bedside: The Mona Lisa; The Virgin and Child with St. Anne; St. John the Baptist; and an oil on poplar panel of a bare-breasted madonna--Monna Vanna. After da Vinci's death, three of the paintings ended up in the Louvre, where they are exhibited today. As to the Monna Vanna, her whereabouts remained unknown for five centuries until a young American art professor, Dov Markov, with the help of beautiful Mirielle Leclérc, head of the French Art Loss Registry, embarked on a breathtaking journey confronting powerful antagonists: a fanatic religious sect known as the "Holy Madmen," ruthless international art traffickers, the Russian mafia, and even officials of the United States government.