THE MISSING DA VINCI MANUSCRIPTS & MURDER IN SPAIN: THE MISSING DA VINCI MANUSCRIPTS, #2

By Joshua Elliot James

Arcadia’s trusted ex-boyfriend, Gavin, bitter at being rejected at his marriage proposal, steals the recovered manuscripts from Arcadia and heads to Singapore to sell them to a billionaire collector, but Arcadia forces him to double cross the buyer, who tortures him in the hope Arcadia will exchange her former boyfriends freedom for the books. But Arcadia does not budge in. Murder happens again before she recovers the books and takes the first flight out which is to Australia and then to Spain where she is chased first by killers and then by the police who is accusing her having shot a police man. Will she be able to convince the police that she is innocent and that she has a very important mission to fulfill?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Joshua Elliot James
• Release date: Oct 27, 2014
• ISBN: 9781502283139

Book preview

Also by Joshua Elliot James:

Arcadia And The Antikythera Mechanism

Arcadia and the Antikythera Mechanism, Episode 1 

Arcadia and the Antikythera Mechanism, Episode 2: The Secret Cave of El Pilar

Arcadia and the Antikythera Mechanism, Episode 3: The Egyptian Apocalypse

Arcadia And The Mysterious Tablet from Göbekli Tep

Arcadia and the Mysterious Tablet from Göbekli Tep, Episode 1

Arcadia and the Mysterious Tablet from Göbekli Tep, Episode 2: The Eye of the Beast

The Missing da Vinci Manuscripts

The missing da Vinci Manuscripts & Death in Geneva, Episode 1

The missing da Vinci Manuscripts & Murder in Spain, Episode 2

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Prologue:

When Arcadia Jones, a Harvard professor and curator of the Metropolitan Museum in New York City receives a scrap of what appears to be an old manuscript, she has it carbon dated and confirms that it is from the 1500’s During research, her hunch suggests that the sample is from one of da Vinci’s lost books that were stolen from his protégé, after his death. There is no accompanying letter, only a return address, so her only course of action is to travel to Rome and contact the sender, who corroborates her intuition, and tells her that there are eighty books full of notes and diagrams of his inventions which were discovered at the Roman Baths in England. She estimates their worth at millions of pounds, but he informs Arcadia that they were stolen from him - except one page. A clue suggests that a local bar patron may be the culprit, which leads her to Geneva and puts her hot on his tail and a separate thief who leads her to Panama. She manages to get the manuscripts back, but then her trusted ex-boyfriend, Gordon, bitter at being rejected at his marriage proposal, takes the books and heads to Singapore to sell them to a billionaire collector, but Arcadia is chasing after him. Will she be able to retrieve the books again or are they lost forever?

Chapter 1: Singapore

Circling the island that I visited several years ago, I am dismayed to see hardly any vegetation remaining – most of the land has suffered the price of success and is converted to steel and concrete. The ‘Raffles’ Hotel does however boast a lush courtyard of palms and exotic flowers in which the founder of the island would find some solace. My room overlooks the Straits of Singapore and the many marinas laden with expensive yachts, and a pleasant breeze negates the need for air conditioning.

Gavin won’t be as foolish to stay at this, or any other famed hotel so I will bribe the Maitre‘d to send out feelers in search of him. My other approach will be to search the ‘who’s in town’ newspaper sections to see whom he may contact and I will also renew my knowledge of the art and antiquities section of this beautiful city to see if there are any renewable acquaintances here and put the word out that I need to contact Gavin urgently.

There is a special atmosphere I savor every time I visit Singapore and this time is no exception, it is intangible but definite. The multi conglomeration of ethnic cultures brings food aromas that