Luke Dalla Bona – Author
Luke Dalla Bona is a Canadian archaeologist who has directed projects in much of Canada and Ecuador since the late 1980s. He is a member of the International Napoleonic Society and The Masséna Society. He was once considered for the position of Governor-General of Canada, has walked across two of Canada’s three prairie provinces and auctioned himself off in university to pay for tuition. He has driven from the Yukon to the Mexico/Texas border once, from the Atlantic to the Pacific several times, and has been featured on television, radio and newspapers in Canada, Cuba, Ecuador and Italy. He also writes novels.
He lives in a little seaside village in Ecuador where he is quite content to mind his own business.
Luke Dalla Bona is represented by Ellen Scordato.
New Novels Coming Soon!
Wherefore Art?
Victoria Arsvera has built her life around art: studying it, understanding it, believing in its power to endure. Fresh from successfully defending her dissertation, she lands a prestigious research position at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Her assignment: investigate a collection of vanished masterpieces including Van Gogh’s Portrait of Dr. Gachet. As she follows the trail, she discovers a troubling pattern: these works aren’t simply missing, they’ve all been acquired by one man under shadowy circumstances for abominable motives.
At the heart of the mystery is a billionaire recluse. As Victoria uncovers his radical theories on ownership, permanence, and the illusion of cultural value, she begins to question whether the true value of art lies in its existence or in the mere idea of it. Her only constant is Anastasia Valdes, the woman who has become both her sanctuary and her greatest distraction, forcing Victoria to confront not only the art world’s truths, but her own. The art world isn’t just a setting; it’s a battlefield, and every move Victoria makes has consequences.
The book’s core theme: art exists beyond ownership, beyond permanence, engages the reader to consider the question: why art? In short, Wherefore Art? is the kind of novel that will spark discussion long after the last page. It’s bold, elegant, and utterly ruthless in the best way possible.
(Cover art is for illustrative purposes only. This novel is currently on submission. Please direct all inquiries to my agent, Ellen Scordato. )
The Painter on the Road
In the chaotic final days of World War II, Allied forces uncover a trove of stolen masterpieces deep in a salt mine in Nazi Germany, including Van Gogh’s The Painter on the Road to Tarascon. Before the painting can be recovered, the mine is engulfed in flames, an apparent accident that shrouds the fate of the artwork in mystery for decades. One man believes the painting survived, setting off a decades-long quest to find it.
Victoria Arsvera and Ana Valdés, two powerful figures in the art world, engage Declan Parker, a sharp-eyed Canadian art detective and together, they initiate a search that uncovers a trail of secrets leading from German salt mines to royal Middle Eastern vaults. As tensions mount, a seductive spy, diplomatic intrigue, and a billionaire bidding war draw them deeper into a shadowy world where art is currency, identity is fluid, and trust is a dangerous game.
The Painter on the Road is the sequel to Wherefore Art?. Spanning continents and decades, it is a high-stakes art thriller that weaves history, ambition, and revenge into a story of redemption and legacy. As Victoria and Ana seek to reclaim a piece of the past once stolen by hate, they ignite a cultural reckoning that reverberates across the globe. Elegant and electrifying, this novel is a tribute to resilience, justice, and the enduring power of art.
(Cover art is for illustrative purposes only. This novel is currently on submission. Please direct all inquiries to my agent, Ellen Scordato. )
The Rosetta Enigma: A Novel
Torn between the quiet life he knows and the staggering possibilities of his linguistic abilities, Matt must navigate a treacherous path where language is both his greatest weapon and his greatest curse. With the walls closing in, he faces an impossible choice; return to his ordinary existence or embrace the extraordinary, knowing that doing so may cost him everything, including Claire.
Matt Sanderson has spent his life bound to the family farm in the vast prairies of South Dakota, a life he never chose. But when his girlfriend Claire wins a trip to Paris, Matt finds himself in a world far removed from the predictable rhythms of his past. In the City of Light, something extraordinary awakens within him: an inexplicable ability to understand and speak any language he hears. He is the linguistic equivalent to a musical savant.
As Matt revels in his newfound talent, his gift draws him into dangerous territory. A chance encounter in a Parisian bar leads him to overhear a conversation about a black-market deal involving stolen nuclear material. He and a beautiful French detective are thrust into an international conspiracy, pursued by intelligence agencies, tribal warlords and shadowy figures who will stop at nothing to silence him.
Torn between the quiet life he knows and the staggering possibilities of his linguistic abilities, Matt must navigate a treacherous path where language is both his greatest weapon and his greatest curse. With the walls closing in, he faces an impossible choice; return to his ordinary existence or embrace the extraordinary, knowing that doing so may cost him everything, including Claire.
The Rosetta Enigma explores themes of identity, fate, and the power of language, appealing to readers who enjoy cerebral thrillers with a strong emotional core.
The Rosetta Enigma by Luke Dalla Bona is available in hardcover, softcover and Kindle for purchase worldwide on Amazon.
The Royal Cache: A Novel
In 950 BCE, Egypt lies fractured, its empire a shadow of its former glory. The ambitious High Priest Herihor rules Thebes but struggles to maintain control as famine, civil unrest, and political corruption spread through the land. To hold his crumbling kingdom together, Herihor raids the sacred tombs of Egypt’s Pharaohs for their wealth, invoking the very gods while simultaneously descecrating their legacy.
Amid this turmoil, a cast of characters emerges, each caught in their own web of hypocrisy. Herihor proclaims himself a guardian of divine order while secretly stealing treasures meant for eternity. His inner circle enforces harsh laws to protect Egypt’s sanctity yet turns a blind eye to their complicity in crimes of greed. Even the tomb raiders, desperate workers and schemers, cloak their ambitions in justifications of survival and resistance.
At the heart of the chaos stand Butehamun, a conflicted scribe navigating loyalty and self-preservation, and Amon, a tomb foreman devoted to preserving the sanctity of Egypt’s eternal rest. Their journey reveals the paradoxes of power, where ideals are sacrificed for ambition, and survival comes at the cost of integrity. As alliances crumble and betrayals rise, they must decide whether to uphold their principles or descend into the very corruption they seek to resist.
The Royal Cache is a gripping tale of greed, survival, and the fragile line between honor and hypocrisy. With vividly drawn characters and a richly woven narrative, this novel brings to life a world where the glory of an ancient civilization clashes with its desperate reality.
Will they succeed in preserving Egypt’s sacred legacy, or will the weight of their own contradictions destroy them?
The Royal Cache by Luke Dalla Bona is available in hardcover, softcover and Kindle for purchase worldwide on Amazon.
The Collection of the Museo Napoleonico Havana, Cuba
Tucked away in a corner of Havana, far from the tourist areas of the old city, the Museo Napoleónico is arguably the finest museum of the Napoleonic era to be found outside of France. On four floors of a Florentine-style mansion can be found some of the most important treasures of Western European history. Immense court paintings of Napoleon and his family; unique sculptures, busts and porcelain works; masterworks of furniture; swords, rifles and guns belonging to Napoleon, his Marshals and generals; Napoleon’s iconic bicorne hat and spyglass; and, a wide variety of items that exemplify the unique artistic style and history of Europe after the French Revolution. The artifacts, and over 5000 books & lithographs, are presented throughout the museum and, for the first time, in this book.
The Collection of the Museo Napoleonico Havana, Cuba is comprised of over 350 pages that are illustrated with more than 300 photos and more than 100 pages of text. The text and photography is by Luke Dalla Bona with forewords by His Excellency Jean Mendelson (Former Ambassador of France in Cuba) and J. David Markham (President – International Napoleonic Society). An introduction is written by Museo Napoleónico Director Sadys Sánchez Aguilar.
The Collection of the Museo Napoleonico, Havana, Cuba by Luke Dalla Bona is available for purchase worldwide on Amazon. Available in hardcover, softcover and Kindle.
Napoleon on St. Helena – An Exhibition Guide, Museo Napoleónico, Havana, Cuba
Napoleon Bonaparte died 200 years ago while he was imprisoned on the island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean. Two centuries after the events of the Napoleonic era have passed, the brilliance of everything associated with the man and the epoch has not been dulled by time. To the contrary, interest in all things Napoleon continues to grow.
2021 is also the 60th anniversary of the opening of the Museo Napoleónico in Havana, Cuba. This museum is based primarily upon the collection of the Cuban sugar magnate Julio Lobo Olavarría and it was the first new museum founded by the government of Fidel Castro after the Cuban revolution in January 1959.
This exhibition celebrates both anniversaries through items directly associated with Napoleon and his time on St. Helena (1815-1821). The museum has many other items associated with St. Helena including original artwork, island memorabilia, prints and books. A tree even grows in the garden that was propagated from seeds brought from St. Helena.
But the artifacts, directly associated with Napoleon himself, are some of the most fascinating and most important artifacts in modern history.
Napoleon on St. Helena – An Exhibition Guide, Museo Napoleónico, Havana, Cuba by Luke Dalla Bona is available for purchase worldwide in paperback and Kindle.
Early Human Occupation in British Columbia by Roy L. Carlson and Luke Dalla Bona (editors).
This book represents the archeological evidence for the first 5,500 years of prehistory in British Columbia, from about 10,500 to 5,000 years ago. As this period is poorly known, even to specialists, Early Human Occupation in British Columbia is a vital contribution to current knowledge about an enigmatic time in a critically important area of western North America.
Early Human Occupation in British Columbia by Roy L. Carlson and Luke Dalla Bona (editors) is available worldwide in hardcover and paperback editions.