You Love a Caper

It’s Heist Week

Hi friends,

I can’t think of a single heist depiction — from the “Brooklyn 99” Halloween episodes, “Oceans 11” and “The Great Muppet Caper” to podcasts on the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and an armored car theft — that I didn’t enjoy. I love all the tropes — bringing the gang together, the planning and rehearsing and, of course, the moment when it appears to be going all wrong, only for the crew to pull it off.

So, this week, I’m featuring three heist books, each with a different spin. Next week, I’ll be back with my usual mix.

P.S. Happy birthday dad.

And, now, what to read if …

You’d Watch an “Oceans Eleven” RomCom

To Have and to Heist by Sara Desai

When Simi Chopra, the heroine of To Have and to Heist, gets a phone call from her best friend Chloe — not a text message, but a phone call — she knows something is wrong. But she’s shocked to learn Chloe’s problem isn’t a no-show babysitter or her abusive ex-husband. Instead, she’s been implicated in the theft of a multimillion-dollar diamond necklace. Simi rushes to the scene of the crime, where she meets the mysterious Jack, an expert thief.

Days later, as the best friends dodge questions from police, Jack makes Simi an offer. He’ll help her steal the necklace from the real robber, clearing Chloe’s name and giving them all the reward money. The catch? Simi will need to form a crew and infiltrate a society wedding. The opportunity to pay off her student loans, help her best friend and spend more time with Jack is too good for Simi to pass up. As she pulls together a motley crew — an uber driver, a wannabe MMA fighter and her elderly landlord — studies blueprints and attempts to steal a necklace, she realizes Jack might be running off with her heart.

To Have and to Heist is a total delight, complete with zany, lovable side characters, crackling banter and quick pacing. As I wrote for Parade, “Come for the crime; stay for the sizzling chemistry.”

Reminder rec: Alisha Rai’s Partners in Crime is another fun heist romance — think “Indian Matchmaking” meets “Date Night.”

You’ve Ever Had a Weird Obsession

The Art Thief by Michael Finkel

When authorities finally arrested Stéphane Breitwieser, he had stolen roughly $2 billion in art from museums and auctions across Europe. The thief never sold his more than 200 pieces of contraband, instead keeping them on display in his attic bedroom at his mother’s house. He was driven not by money but by an obsession with the art. Journalist Michael Finkel documents Breitweiser’s crimes and the years-long investigation that ended in his arrest in The Art Thief.

Finkel chronicles how Breitwieser pulled off his feats — a combination of athleticism, a deep understanding of museum security (or lack thereof), the (sometimes reluctant) assistance of his girlfriend, luck and hubris. It’s that last one that finally caught up to him, as his confidence that he could never be caught caused him to take bigger and bigger risks.

In between depictions of the thefts, Finkel draws on art theory and the thief’s psychological records to understand the roots of Breitwieser’s obsession.

It's a short book —fewer than 250 pages — and Finkel uses each word and sentence judiciously. Art lovers and true crime fans won’t want to miss this one.

Reminder rec: The Feather Thief by Kirk Wallace Johnson, about the heist of a million dollars of rare feathers, is one of my favorite books of the past five years.

You Want Something with “Downton Abbey” Vibes

The House Keepers by Alex Hay

At first glance, Mrs. King, the housekeeper at the grandest home in Mayfair, owned by the de Vries family, appears to be the consummate professional. But, she’s hiding a secret — she was raised by the biggest thief and con artist in London. When Mrs. King is suddenly fired from her job, she decides to put hidden skills to use and rob everything — and she means everything — from a house filled with “treasures in every room: stupendous Van Dycks, giant crystal bowls stuffed with carnations. Objets d’art in gold and silver and jade, cherubs with rubies for eyes and emeralds for toenails.” 

She pulls together of a team of women wronged by the de Vries who orchestrate their heist to coincide with a lavish costume ball. As London’s elite dance the night away, they will carry the art and furniture out the door. The crew, nicknamed The House Keepers, know better than anyone that The Help can move through a house undetected.

The House Keepers is one of those books where you can’t help but root for the “bad guys.” Mrs. King is a queen upon the chess board and she does not play to lose.* She’s a brilliant strategist, out for vengeance, who sees what others have overlooked. I stayed up way past my bedtime to see how (if?) they’d pull it off.

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If you want even more heist options, consider S.A. Cosby’s Blacktop Wasteland (gritty southern noir), The Monsters We Defy by Leslye Penelope (magical caper), Grace Li’s Portrait of a Thief (heist with a critique of colonialism), Sex on the Moon by Ben Mezrich (moon rocks!), Joshua Hammer’s The Falcon Thief (he steals rare bird eggs) and The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean.

Thanks for letting me into your inboxes each week.

*Who caught the Lady Sherlock reference?

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