The Biltmore's Mona Lisa: A Heist Novel

by Daniel D Smith

Overview

In 1941, France's national treasure, Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa painting, was moved from the National Gallery to the Biltmore House near Asheville, North Carolina, for safekeeping.

German General Hermann Goring heard about the move and sent a team of Luftwaffe officers to America.

Their mission is to break out a German art expert from an American POW camp and continue to Asheville to steal the Mona Lisa, leaving a masterful forgery in its place.

Unbeknownst to the Nazis, a second scoundrel has a similar plan in place. However, while his wealth may provide him the resources to succeed, his greed may be his undoing.

Will this villainy succeed? Will the P.O.W. escape expose the German's presence on American soil? Does only an Army security squad and a determined French art curator stand in their way?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798218374839
Publisher:	Daniel Smith Books
Publication date:	07/15/2024
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	635,098
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.58(d)

About the Author

Author and Military Historian Daniel Smith, Sr. is retired from twenty-six years in the U.S. Navy. After retiring from the Navy, he joined the all-volunteer Tennessee State Guard as a Captain (Infantry). He retired from the State Guard after seven years as a Lieutenant Colonel.He has an undergraduate degree from Covenant College and performed post-graduate work in World History at California State University. After retirement from the Navy, he spent 23 years as an IT manager at the Tennessee Valley Authority and another 10 years as a consulting Senior Project Manager at Olav & Co.He was an associate editor of the automobile magazine Vette Vues in the mid-1970s.Smith was executive director of the National Medal of Honor Museum of Military History in Chattanooga, Tennessee, from 1997 to 1999. He has published four military history reference books, many classic car magazine articles, and short story fiction pieces. His military history books include three on U.S. Navy memorabilia and one book titled "The Medal of Honor and the Battles for Chattanooga."He specializes in the history of the military Medal of Honor and World War II military history.Aside from reading, his favorite pastime is showing and judging classic automobiles.He and his wife, Betty Thomas Smith, have two grown children and reside in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Editorial Reviews

2024-07-21
Smith’s historical novel details an attempt to purloin theMona Lisa in the 1940s.

In 1941, there is concern among top American authorities that the United States may soon enter the war raging in Europe. With this concern comes the fear that German U-boats could attack the Eastern Seaboard. As a precaution to protect a collection of invaluable art in Washington, D.C., a number of works are sent further inland; the final destination is the Biltmore Estate outside of Asheville, North Carolina. Included in this haul is a painting on loan from France: Leonardo da Vinci’sMona Lisa. A security detail is arranged for the estate led by American soldier Cpt. Declan Donahue. Back in Germany, the notorious pilferer of foreign treasures and all-around monster Reichsmarschall Hermann Goring would love to get his hands on the da Vinci masterpiece. He assembles a crack team of military men to make a journey across the Atlantic and into the American south to steal the painting. To complicate matters, a number ofMona Lisa fakes are in circulation, including one the team will take with them to substitute it for the real McCoy. This fictional tale (theMona Lisa was never stored in North Carolina) takes the reader down a strange path; from a perilous U-boat journey to the difficulties of running a security detail on an American estate, the narrative explores many different angles of the caper. Readers expecting a simple story about a simple theft are in for surprises as the adventure expands to places well beyond Asheville, such as the fighting in North Africa. Though the plot’s twists are lively, the dialogue often falls flat as characters announce what they are doing or about to do (“I’ll phone in an order to Morris Field Supply”). Still, the story makes for a divertingly outlandish caper.

A dialogue-heavy yet refreshingly wild account of an international heist.

Kirkus Reviews