Local Author Visit: Daniel D. Smith’s The Biltmore’s Mona Lisa

Join the Katie Lamb Friends of the Library as they host local author Daniel D. Smith who will discuss his book – The Biltmore’s Mona Lisa – Mystery, Historical Fiction

Author and Military Historian Daniel Smith brings to life this thrilling art heist in his historical fiction novel The Biltmore’s Mona Lisa.

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

German General Hermann Goring hears about this move and sends a special Luftwaffe detachment to America by U-boat.

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 with the resources to succeed, his greed may be his undoing.

Will this villainy succeed? Only a disabled Army Air Corps captain and a French art curator from the Louvre stand in their way….

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.