The Lost Botticelli

What if a lost Botticelli painting should turn up after five hundred years in hiding? Who would own it, who might claim it, and to what desperate ends might someone go to steal the painting? Author Paul Stephano uses these questions to drive a new mystery novel, The Lost Botticelli, pitting a young art curator and his aging Italian professor against unscrupulous collectors and aggressive museums. There are no dead bodies until halfway through the novel, but after that the story roars from Florence to Rome to a decrepit castle outside Munich until justice, of some sort, is finally done.

The Lost Botticelli website has more information about the book, a full author interview, and a walking tour of Botticelli’s Florence.