CHASING MONA LISA - Tricia Goyer and Mike Yorkey - Free Book

I know that this is a collaboration. How did this story come about?

Tricia: I’ve written a handful of books set in the World War II, and I’ve always been intrigued about how the Nazis stole art. When I was in Austria I heard about the salt mines that many art pieces were hidden in. I also read a book Rescuing Da Vinci that intrigued me.  That’s why Mike and I started the book with an action scene involving a train in Paris being loaded up with priceless art that was purchased or stolen in France. I was amazed by how that happened and I knew readers would be too.

Mike: From there, it was a matter of piecing together a plausible plot that involved Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring’s desire to steal the Mona Lisa following the Allies’ liberation of Paris in August 1944. We believe we have more than succeeded, and there are a lot of unexpected surprises along the way.

Did you find it easy to work together on it?

Tricia: The best way to work together was for Mike to write the first draft and then I came in behind and edited, added bits and pieces of scenes, and offered suggestions. He usually set me free on the “romantic” parts.

Mike: That’s what worked best for us. Thank goodness for Track Changes in Word.

That was a great invention loved by many authors. How did collaborating with this team impact you?

Tricia: Mike and I collaborated on a previous World War II novel, The Swiss Courier and we both like the same type of research, although Mike comes up with the zinger plot twists.

Mike: Although Chasing Mona Lisa has several of the same characters that appeared in The Swiss Courier, Tricia and I decided to make it a stand-alone novel.

What is the hardest thing about writing as a team?

Tricia: Mike and I both have other books, other projects, and other deadlines that we do on our own, so it’s hard to coordinate our time.

Mike: There are never enough hours in the day.

What are you reading right now?

Tricia: I'm currently reading Kisses from Katie by Katie J. Davis and A Stranger's Gift (pre-release to write an endorsement) by Pulitzer Prize Winner Tom Hallman, Jr.

Mike: I just finished Killing Lincoln by Bill O’Reilly. I was surprised how good it was, but he didn’t write it. His collaborator Martin Dugard undoubtedly authored the book.

How did you choose your characters’ names?

Tricia: I can claim choose Colette! I love that name. Mike did the rest.

Mike: Believe it or not, many of the names come from Nicole’s family (she is Swiss) or friends she went to high school with outside of Zurich.

Would you want to work on another book together?

Tricia: Sure, but we need Chasing Mona Lisa to do well.

Mike: So tell all your friends. This starving artist will appreciate it.

What do you want to tell us about the book?

Tricia: The action never stops. Every chapter moves toward a cliffhanger. We don’t want anyone to catch his or her breath. Oh, yes, the research is pretty fun too!

Mike: It’s wonderful how all the plot threads . . . and there are a bunch of them . . . all come together. We haven’t had anyone guess the ending yet, so there are plot twists galore.

Sounds like a book I’ll love. I’ll have to try to guess the ending. I love it when I’m totally surprised, but that doesn’t happen too often. Please give us the first page of the book.

Here is the A Note to the Reader (but the beginning of the first chapter follows).

The world-renowned Musée du Louvre, in Paris, France, started as a fortress when construction began in 1190. In the fourteenth century, Charles V converted the fortress into a residential chateau, and from the 1660s until 1682, Louis XIV, the Sun King, transformed the Louvre into the grandest palace in Europe. Within its walls today, 35,000 irreplaceable pieces of art are exhibited, including the three most notable—the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, and Winged Victory at Samothrace.

The Mona Lisa, or as she is called in French, La Joconde, greets visitors from behind a climate-controlled enclosure fronted by bulletproof glass. Over 500 years old, the portrait of the most famous woman in the world—Lisa del Giocondo, the wife of a Florentine silk merchant—measures only twenty-one inches wide by thirty inches tall. It is said that her eyes follow—perhaps even haunt—viewers. Her folded hands look smooth, and her smile, forever enigmatic. From the moment the Italian painter Leonardo da Vinci finished this masterpiece in 1519 a few years before his death, no portrait has elicited more scrutiny, study, and even parody in the history of art.

During World War II, the Nazis looted thousands of paintings and art works from the lands they conquered. Armed with the knowledge that their beloved treasures were in danger, the French packed up the Mona Lisa before the German Army overran Paris. She was moved from one hiding place to another, and she even hung in a little girl’s bedroom for a time. The Mona Lisa remained safe throughout the time of the Nazi occupation of France . . .

Until the Libération of Paris.

Chapter 1 (first page)

Thursday, August 20, 1942

Paris, France, during Nazi occupation

Dressed in soiled blue overalls and pushing a dented trash can, the solitary figure shuffled past two German sentries stationed at the Gare de l’Est’s archway entrance.

The brim of a felt hat covered Bernard Rousseau’s downturned eyes, averting the soldiers’ cold glare. No one will bother you if you avoid eye contact while performing a menial job. Cradling that thought, he moved past the guards into the gilded entrance arcade.

Gare de l’Est, one of six train stations in Paris and the main terminus for rail traffic to and from Germany, was moderately busy this summer afternoon. In stark contract to the pall of oppression in the streets, a festive spirit hung in the air underneath the iron trusses of the train shed where clusters of German officers—flanked by smiling wives and jubilant children—arrived on holiday. Sweating porters toted their luggage, struggling to keep up within the grand structure dominated by decorative columns.

Readers: Win an iTouch SPY Pack in the Chasing Mona Lisa Giveaway from @triciagoyer @mikeyorkey!

Chasing Mona Lisa is the continuing tale of Gabi Mueller and Eric Hofstadler (first introduced in The Swiss Courier). This time the due are on a relentless quest to save the most famous painting in the world  - the Mona Lisa. You can help Gabi and Eric with your very own spy pack when you enter The Chasing Mona Lisa Giveaway!

One passionate protector will receive:

• iTouch (The must-have device for any spy. Camera, Maps & Music.)
• Starbucks Gift Card (For all those late nights.)
• Moleskin Notebook (For those important notes.)
• Invisible Ink Pen (Don’t want anyone reading those important notes.)
• Chasing Mona Lisa by Tricia Goyer & Mike Yorkey (Great handbook and intriguing tale for any spy-in-training!)

Enter today by clicking one of the icons below. But hurry, the giveaway ends at noon on January 31st. The winner will be announced at the Chasing Mona Lisa Facebook Party on 1/31. Tricia and Mike will be hosting an author chat (on Facebook and Live from Tricia's website) and giving away their books and a Book Club prize pack! (Ten copies of the book for your small group or book club AND a LIVE Author Chat for your group with Tricia and Mike.)

So grab your copy of Chasing Mona Lisa and join Tricia and Mike on the evening of the 31st for an author chat, spy training (do you know how to pick a lock?) and lots of giveaways. 

Don't miss a moment of the fun. RSVP today and tell your friends via FACEBOOK or TWITTER and increase your chances of winning. Hope to see you on the 31st!


Thank you, Tricia and Mike, for the interesting peek into your writing partnership and your book.


Readers, you can win a copy of the book here on this blog.


Leave a comment for a chance to win a free copy of the book. Please tell us where you live, at least the state or territory. (Comments containing links may be subject to removal by blog owner.)

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THE SWISS COURIER - Tricia Goyer & Mike Yorkey - Free book

I've really been interested in this book since I first heard about it. How did The Swiss Courier come about?
Mike: Five or six years ago, Tricia and I met online through the Writer’s View, a place where Christian writers, editors, and agents can gather online to bat around ideas and what’s happening out there. I had just finished writing my first novel, By the Sword, which is a Mideast thriller set in modern times about how Islamic elements in Iran want to take Islam back to its roots, which is conversion by the sword.

I was getting rejection after rejection for By the Sword, and Tricia helped point out why. I wrote and rewrote, and I eventually got By the Sword sold and published with Broadman and Holman in 2006. After that experience, Tricia and I started kicking around some ideas about a World War II novel, which was up my alley since I’ve always thought of myself as a Second World War buff.

Tricia: I think our conversation really took off when I met Mike and his lovely wife, Nicole, at a large book convention. Once we started talking about World War II, it was clear we both loved this time in history. I was also excited because Nicole is Swiss. (Her accent is lovely!) I can't think of many novels that have been written about WWII from a Swiss character. The ideas flowed from there!

Tell us about the book’s cover and what makes it unique.

Tricia: Our publisher actually shot this cover for us with a real model. It took our breath away because the model looked exactly like we picture Gabi. I also loved that they really followed our direction about the tone we wanted to see and even the style of clothes she would have worn.

Mike: I think it’s an arresting image, and it inspired us to do a “book trailer” for The Swiss Courier that is like a Hollywood movie trailer. Here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cNPrAArNaQ

Please explain and differentiate between what’s fact and fiction in the book.

Mike: Much about The Swiss Courier is true, which begins with a faithful recounting of the assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler’s life on July 20, 1944. At that time, Werner Heisenberg, a German winner of the Nobel Prize, was leading the efforts to build the world’s first atomic bomb. American and British pilots were landing their damaged planes in Dübendorf, Switzerland, rather than ditching in Germany, where they stood a good chance of being shot on sight. More than 300 Allied pilots were interned “for the duration” of the war in the Swiss Alpine villages of Davos and Adelboden. Allen Dulles established the OSS—the forerunner of the CIA—in the capital of Switzerland, Bern, in 1943, to start running a spy network. Switzerland did close its borders to Jews and other refugees because “the boat is full.” Switzerland did allow German trains to pass through Switzerland while going back and forth from Germany to Italy.

During research, I read the definitive biography of Werner Heisenberg—Heisenberg’s War: The Secret History of the German Atomic Bomb by Thomas Powers. A couple of books about American and British pilots interned in Switzerland during the war (Shot from the Sky and Refuge from the Reich) were especially helpful. World War II novels dealing with the Switzerland and the OSS were beneficial, such as The Swiss Account by popular novelist Paul Erdman. Once you have this information in your head, you create these characters and let things play out as you envision everything happening. By the end of the novel, I really believed that Gabi Mueller and Eric Hofstadler lived!

Tricia: To balance that, I usually read a lot of “true” stories. I've written about spies in my Chronicle of the Spanish Civil War series, and I devoured as many “autobiographical” accounts as I could. I'm thankful Mike focused on the technical details so I could play with motivations, fears, and inward battles that these people faced. The people, of course, our fictional, but what they faced—externally and internally—is true!

Mike: Joseph Engel, like Gabi Mueller, Eric Hofstadler, and the others, were figments of our imaginations. But they could have existed, and that is where the fun comes in.

Tricia: We think they're real . . . in our minds they are!

How much research did you have to do for this book?
Mike: My “research” started years before I ever knew I'd need it. My interest in Switzerland stems from being married to a Swiss native, Nicole, for 30 years, and our more than two dozen trips to her home country. Back in the early 1980s, before our two children arrived, we lived one year in Geneva and six months in Zurich so that I could experience Swiss culture. I did a variety of things, from working in a sporting goods shop to teaching tennis at a large indoor club. During that time, I read several books about Switzerland’s role during World War II.

Tricia: I was thrilled when I discovered when Mike already knew so much about the time period we were writing. I filled in bits and pieces here and there, but I can say that between the both of us, hundreds of hours were spent “getting it right.”

What are some of the most interesting things you found about this time period that you weren’t able to use in the story?

Tricia: I would have loved to dig more into the Confessing Church and some of their important leaders who were sent to concentration camps. Some survived, all did not.

A select few of the Confessing Church risked their lives to help Jews hiding illegally in Berlin during the war. A hat would be passed around at the end of secret meetings into which the congregation would donate identity cards and passbooks. Maybe I'll write about this some day!

What inspired and surprised you while you were writing the book?
Tricia: Through research, we learned that the Germans, under Werner Heisenberg, were working on nuclear fission and developing the world’s first atomic weapon. I was surprised the Nazi's were so close! It made me thankful that that didn't happen. I was always inspired by all the brave men and women—many of which may never be acknowledged for their work.

What do you hope the reader takes away from the story?

Tricia: I hope they are swept away in a story with characters they fall along with—and in that story get a glimpse of God at work in lives.

Mike: An appreciation for what those who stood up against the Nazi regime. Living in a police state where all it took was for a jealous neighbor to denounce you to the Gestapo, and you were in for a heap of hurt—and probably a painful death.

What is the next project you’re working on?
Tricia: I’m currently working more historical novels: Love Finds You in Lonesome Prairie, Montana (which I’m co-writing with Ocieanna Fleiss) and Songbird Under a German Sky (another WWII novel). Also Remembering You (a contemporary/WWII novel).

Mike: I’m laying fallow for the moment, but Tricia and I have been kicking around a sequel to The Swiss Courier. It has to do with the Mona Lisa painting during the liberation of Paris in August 1944.

Tricia, sometime I'll tell you about my aunt who was an army nurse in Germany when all this was going on. She has some interesting stories and pictures. What do you do when you have to get away from the story for a while?
Tricia: I take a bath or a nap!

Mike: And I go play three sets of doubles with my tennis buddies.

Thank you, Tricia and Mike, for spending this time with us. 

Readers, Leave a comment for a chance to win a free copy of the book.

Void where prohibited; the odds of winning depend on the number of entrants. Entering the giveaway is considered a confirmation of eligibility on behalf of the enterer in accord with these rules and any pertaining local/federal/international laws.

The only notification you’ll receive is the winner post on this blog. So be sure to check back a week from Saturday to see if you won. You will have 6 weeks from the posting of the winners to claim your book.
If you’re reading this on Feedblitz, Facebook, or Amazon, please come to the blog to leave your comment. Here’s a link.

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