I have my mother to thank for my love of heists. She’s not a thief (as far as I know!) but someone who’s deeply attached to her French heritage, despite emigrating from France more than 50 years ago. When Lupin premiered on Netflix in 2021, I instantly thought of my mother, who regularly borrowed Maurice Leblanc’s Arsène Lupin books from our local library when I was young. “Quand tu en as lu un, tu les as tous lus.” When you’ve read one, you’ve read them all, she would say about Leblanc’s stories, yet the books kept appearing in our house. My mother wasn’t a fan, but I was drawn to the charm and wit of Leblanc’s gentleman thief, so much so that I chose a thief to anchor my debut thriller, Blood Rubies. My interest in heists continues unabated. Here are ten recent standouts:
1. The Pigeon, by David Gordon (2023)
This unique caper, the fifth in Gordon’s Joe the Bouncer series, centers on a stolen racing pigeon (yes, a pigeon) worth nearly a million dollars. Ex-Special Forces operative Joe Brody’s attempt to retrieve the bird from an Upper West side apartment goes sideways, putting him in the crosshairs of a group of international criminals.
2. Counterfeit, by Kirstin Chen (2022)
Called the “heist of the summer,” this Reese’s Book Club Pick focuses on two Chinese-American women, strait-laced Ava Wong and mysterious Winnie Fang, who grow a counterfeit handbag scheme into a global business. More than just a stylish caper, Chen’s book challenges the model minority myth.
3. Blacktop Wasteland, by S. A. Cosby (2020)
Cosby’s award-winning book sees Beauregard “Bug” Montage, the best getaway driver on the East Coast, resume his life of crime to save his family from financial ruin. When a daring diamond heist goes wrong, Bug is drawn into a gritty underworld that upends his entire life. Fast-paced and atmospheric, Blacktop Wasteland was one of the most celebrated crime novels of 2020.
4. Portrait of a Thief, by Grace Li (2022)
Li’s bestselling debut follows five young Chinese Americans hired to steal back looted sculptures from some of the world’s top museums. Their drive to combat the legacy of colonialism and right historical wrongs gives this caper a compelling edge.
5. The Collector, by Daniel Silva (2023)
This is book 23 in Silva’s wildly successful Gabriel Allon series. Retired from the Israeli intelligence service, Gabriel helps Italian authorities investigate the theft of Vermeer’s The Concert from a private collection, a painting previously stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. The search leads Gabriel to a more important theft, one involving materials for a nuclear bomb.
6. The Honeymoon Heist, by Brad Taylor (2023)
Part of Taylor’s long-running Pike Logan series, this short story takes place in picturesque Positano on Italy’s Amalfi Coast. Pike and Jennifer’s dream vacation is cut short when they uncover a Renaissance painting in a grotto and are drawn deep into a dangerous art trafficking scheme.
7. To Have and to Heist, by Sara Desai (2023)
This romantic-comedy caper follows down-on-her-luck Simi Chopra as she masterminds a heist to exonerate a friend accused of stealing a multimillion-dollar diamond necklace. The book is fast-paced, fun, and devoid of the grittiness of many heists.
8. The Big Heist: The Real Story of the Lufthansa Heist, the Mafia, and Murder, by Anthony M. DeStefano (2017)
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist DeStefano revisits the unsolved Lufthansa Airlines heist of 1978, which saw thieves make off with nearly $6 million in cash and jewels. Drawing on evidence from the 2015 trial of elderly Mafia don, Vincent Asaro, DeStefano provides new insights about the role of New York City’s crime families in pulling off what was then the biggest cash robbery in US history.
9. The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession, by Michael Finkel (2023)
This riveting true crime book centers on the exploits of Stéphane Breitwieser, a French thief who stole over 200 artworks from European cathedrals and museums (a.k.a. “prisons for art”) between 1995 and 2001. The book offers fascinating insights about Breitwieser’s motives and reads more like a psychological thriller than true crime.
10. The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century, by Kirk Wallace Johnson (2018)
Johnson’s award-winning true crime book tells the story of Edwin Rist, a young American flautist who stole nearly 300 brightly colored bird skins from the Natural History Museum at Tring, Hertfordshire, while studying at the London Academy of Music in 2009. Police found the skins and thousands of bird feathers in zip-lock bags when they arrested Rist at his apartment the following year. Rist confessed to harvesting the feathers and selling them online to Victorian fly-tying hobbyists to create beautiful but impractical fishing hooks, making this one of the strangest heists on record.