Terrence Lore Smith

Terrence Lore Smith (1942 – December 7, 1988) was an American mystery writer best known as the author of the best-selling novel The Thief Who Came to Dinner, which was made into the 1973 film of the same name starring Ryan O’Neal and Jacqueline Bisset.

Life Born in 1942 in Freeport, Illinois, Smith grew up in Bloomington, Illinois and was the son of Methodist minister Charles Merrill Smith. He married journalist Harriet Hahn on March 20, 1971, in Middletown, New York. The couple, who raised two daughters, moved to Colorado in 1980, where Smith worked as a state-certified drug and alcohol counselor at the rehabilitation centers Brockhurst Ranch and the ARK. He later worked as a courier for the Pikes Peak Library District.

Smith published The Devil and Webster Daniels, the sequel to The Thief Who Came to Dinner, in 1975.

Other works In addition to The Thief Who Came to Dinner, Smith also co-wrote the three-book "Leo Roi" with his father under the pseudonym Phillips Lore, as well as several other standalone novels.

Smith was a member of the Mystery Writers Guild of America.