Umberto Scolari and the Five Mysteries: A Short Story Collection

By Dayle A. Dermatis

Umberto Scolari. Engineer. Thinker. Student to Il Maestro himself: Leonard da Vinci.

 

While da Vinci paints and designs machinery for his patrons, Umberto picks up the slack when someone needs a murder solved, a baby reunited with its mother, or help solving other crimes.

 

Peppered with well-known historical figures and often based around actual events, these five mystery stories bring the Italian Renaissance alive.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Soul's Road Press
• Release date: Dec 5, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393344964

Dayle A. Dermatis

Dayle A. Dermatis is the author or coauthor of many novels (including snarky urban fantasies Ghosted and the forthcoming Shaded and Spectered) and more than a hundred short stories in multiple genres, appearing in such venues as Fiction River, Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, and DAW Books.Called the mastermind behind the Uncollected Anthology project, she also guest edits anthologies for Fiction River, and her own short fiction has been lauded in many year's best anthologies in erotica, mystery, and horror.She lives in a book- and cat-filled historic English-style cottage in the wild greenscapes of the Pacific Northwest. In her spare time she follows Styx around the country and travels the world, which inspires her writing.To find out where she’s wandered off to (and to get free fiction!), check out DayleDermatis.com and sign up for her newsletter or support her on Patreon.* * *I value honest feedback, and would love to hear your opinion in a review, if you’re so inclined, on your favorite book retailer’s site.* * *For more information:www.dayledermatis.com

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Umberto Scolari and the Five Mysteries

Umberto Scolari and the Five Mysteries

A Short Story Collection

Dayle A. Dermatis

Soul’s Road Press

Contents

About This Book

Introduction

Umberto Scolari and the Feast of Paradise

Umberto Scolari and the Feast of Paradise

Afterword to Umberto Scolari and the Feast of Paradise

Umberto Scolari and the Duke of Milan

Umberto Scolari and the Duke of Milan

Afterword to Umberto Scolari and the Duke of Milan

Umberto Scolari and the Ill-Fated Marriage

Umberto Scolari and the Ill-Fated Marriage

Afterword to Umberto Scolari and the Ill-Fated Marriage

Umberto Scolari and the Red Clay of Sienna

Umberto Scolari and the Red Clay of Sienna

Afterword to Umberto Scolari and the Red Clay of Sienna

Umberto Scolari and the Arno River Diversion

Umberto Scolari and the Arno River Diversion

Afterword to Umberto Scolari and the Arno River Diversion

About the Author

Also by Dayle A. Dermatis

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About This Book

Umberto Scolari. Engineer. Thinker. Student to Il Maestro himself: Leonard da Vinci.

While da Vinci paints and designs machinery for his patrons, Umberto picks up the slack when someone needs a murder solved, a baby reunited with its mother, or help solving other crimes.

Peppered with well-known historical figures and often based around actual events, these five mystery stories bring the Italian Renaissance alive.

Introduction

Welcome to the Italian Renaissance and the colorful world of Umberto Scolari, an engineer under the tutelage of Leonardo da Vinci, also known as Il Maestro, the Master. (Not a Doctor Who reference…or is it?)

My husband and I do historic re-creation with the international, educational, non-profit group the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA). The group has a dual purpose: (1) to learn about history by doing it (making the clothes, armor, recipes, soap, you name it; fighting, running hounds, jousting, falconry; and much more) and (2) to have fun.

Each member is encouraged to pick a persona, someone who might have lived in a particular time period and place. (The SCA is largely European-based, from about 600 to 1600.) You can’t chose an actual historic figure, but your persona can have known a real person in some small way.

My husband is an engineer and a costumer, with a love of both science and art. Thus, his fascination with Leonardo da Vinci, one of the greatest engineers and artists in history, became the basis around which he built his persona: Umberto Lodovico Scolari, part of da Vinci’s entourage.

When I first came up with the idea of writing stories set in the Italian Renaissance, basing a character on my husband’s re-creation persona seemed like the perfect choice. And so Umberto Scolari was born. (In all other ways, fictional Umberto deviates in many ways from persona Umberto, so don’t go making any assumptions!)

My favorite resource when writing these stories is Leonardo: The First Scientist by Michael White. Wikipedia also helped fill in a few other details.

In this collection, the stories are arranged chronologically by history. Some stories are based on specific events, others have a looser time period.

Because I wrote these stories at separate times, please note that there are inconsistencies in Umberto’s life story. Maybe I just haven’t decided which way to go—or maybe Umberto himself isn’t always truthful. Hm…I wonder why? Maybe that’s will be another story!

Umberto Scolari and the Feast of Paradise

Umberto Scolari and the Feast of Paradise

It was to be called the Feast of Paradise.

Umberto Scolari, so called because of his tutelage under Il Maestro Leonardo himself, stepped back from the stage and shook his head. The Duke’s astrologer had ascertained that tomorrow would be the most auspicious time for the wedding feast, but Umberto took little stock in the idea that the heavens predicted anything.

The heavens couldn’t have predicted that the stage, which was meant to rotate, currently did not work as such.

If he believed in omens, he would say that if they didn’t fix this, it didn’t bode well. Ludovico Sforza, the Duke of Milan, was not a forgiving man.

The Masque of the Planets should be the shining jewel at the Feast of Paradise, and would raise Il Maestro’s status even more. Umberto hoped his own status would increase as well; if the noble guests learned he had been Leonardo’s personal assistant on the project, perhaps he could find a position with one of them as ingenarius ducalis, or court engineer-architect, just as Leonardo had here in Milan for the Sforzas.

Umberto very much desired to leave crowded, stifling, polluted Milan for airier climes. Anywhere in Tuscany would be an improvement.

He was about to step back onto the stage to adjust one of the zodiac windows when Isabella’s chief lady, Chiara, burst into the great hall. Her footsteps echoed as she ran to him, clutching her skirts to keep from tripping.

Il Maestro, she said, hands on her knees as she gasped for air, is he here?

Umberto shook his head. He has gone back to his workshop. He’d left nearly an hour before to set the apprentices on fixing the broken rack-and-pinion gear.

Then you must come, she said. Someone has been poisoned.

Umberto’s concern increased sevenfold when Chiara brought him to the guest quarters that housed the d’Este family. Was the victim young Beatrice, whom Duke Sforza had been courting (or, rather,