This Rec League request is from Kir in our SBTB Patreon Discord:
Can anyone recommend any books where the main characters solve a theft please? As opposed to solving a murder, or books that follow the thieves doing the heist. Can be mystery/romance/any genre, but bonus points if it’s in a secondary world.
Lara: I haven’t finished it yet but The Three Dahlias by Katy Watson ( A | BN | K ) seems to focus on a theft only.
Sarah: There are many books across subgenres with one character being a thief, a con artist, or a protégé of one, the other, or both, but that’s not what the asker is seeking, really. That said, if half the duo is seeking a thief (that might be the other person) Hot Pursuit by Kay Marie, ( A | BN ) has a daughter of a famous art thief, and an FBI agent.
Suzanne Enoch had a whole series about a thief, as well. Samantha something. Found it – Flirting with Danger. ( A | BN | K ) Samantha Jellicoe. But did my brain say “The one with the yellow tights?” Yes, yes it did.
The cover illustration has a model with hands and legs the same color as the Android ball of goo emoji.
Susan Sey also wrote procedural contemporaries, with thieves and law enforcement. Money, Honey ( A | BN | K ) was the first one. I haven’t read Sey but I remember folks talking about her books very positively.
Do you have any recommendations? Drop them in the comments!
I read MONEY HONEY, and unfortunately it was over a decade ago, so I remember very little about it, but the one thing I do remember is that I really enjoyed it. The sequel was somewhat disappointing, though, although again I don’t remember it well.
The first of the Lady Violet Mysteries series by Grace Burrowes is about a theft: Lady Violet Investigates. The rest of the series, set in historical England and Scotland, only has one murder mystery. The rest are various shenanigans and disappearances that need to be solved.
I think Magic and the Shinigami Detective by Honor Raconteur is solely about solving a theft (in a magical world, I think the subgenre is called portal fantasy?). The rest of the series does have a few books that involve solving murders though.
It’s hard to find mysteries that aren’t about murder. The only ones I’ve found so far are Flying Solo (Holmes) and Camino Island (Grisham). Camino has one or two brief on-page murders but the core is theft.
Aaron Elkins wrote the Chris Norgren mysteries, about a museum curator who solves art-related crimes, and he co-wrote with his wife Charlotte the Alix London mystery series, about the daughter of a forger who is a restorer who solves art crimes.
There is also a lot of good nonfiction on the topic, like Priceless by Robert Whitman, the memoir of an FBI art crime expert, and Torn From Their Bindings by Travis McDade, about the stealing of rare illustrations from library books. In my TBR pile is The Feather Thief, a nonfiction book about a man who stole from natural history museums and the man who caught him.
A book by Nora Roberts was about a stolen cache of diamonds; they stayed lost for a number of years and in one of J.D. Robb’s Eve Dallas books, they’re found, after some murders. Roarke, of course, buys some (all?) to have made into jewelry for her.
Lucy Lennox’s King Me is a MM romance between a just retired art thief and the FBI agent who has been chasing him, who team up to solve a theft by the retired theif’s former mentor.
It’s part of the Forever Wilde series but can probably be read as a standalone.
Jennifer Crusie’s Faking It, which I think is about an artist and an art thief. Love all of her books, they always make me laugh!
I read an Estelle Ryan series a few years back that had autistic female MC. As I recall she was an antisocial genius who solved art forgery/theft mysteries.
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde is an alternative world London and the main character is a literary detective who has to track down Jane Eyre after she is stollen from the original manuscript. It is super ridiculous and fun.
I think Partners in Crime by Alisha Rai fits the bill (though there is a death, that isn’t the mystery). Also, The Blonde Identity by Ally Carter follows spies trying to solve a mystery (though again, there are deaths in the book, that isn’t the mystery). I loved both those books!
Tamara Morgan’s Penelope Blue series, starting with Stealing Mr. Right, is about a jewel thief who marries an FBI agent who is trying to catch her. I thought the whole series was a lot of fun.
Paranormal: The Slouch Witch by Helen Harper – It is a three book series and the first book is all about a *lazy* witch pairing up with a big deal wizard to find a stolen magical object.
Action/Adventure: The Heist by Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg – First book in the Fox and O’Hare series. Kate O’Hare is an FBI agent and Nick Fox is an international thief. She’s been hot on his trail for years. Hijinks ensue and the ‘It takes a Thief to Catch a Thief’ comes into play and they team up to find a guy who embezzled a bunch of money. First book a (7?) book series. They are funny and sexy and very long-con and heisty and brings real crooks to justice. Fair warning: I stopped reading them when Lee Goldberg was no longer the co-writer. But the first first five books a a ride!
HistRom: Trick of Fate by Stella Riley – Identity theft is a sort of theft right? This one the hero/heroine are on the trail of a man who had stolen the identity of the hero (he’s leaving breadcrumbs for them to follow him for a reason).
Before I make a bunch of irrelevant recs, I want to clarify – would archaeology/discovering lost treasure/race to prevent treasure theft fit within the ask? If so, HI HELLO I have a whole category on my kindle.
Another non-fiction title fot your consideration: The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean.
Thinking about this Rec League, I googled caper novels which brought me to some pretty extensive lists. I’d imagine that you would have to pore over said lists, because a caper or heist novel doesn’t guarantee a lack of murders or corpses. My own favorites include Laurence Block’s Bernie Rhodenbarr series. I can’t honestly say that I remember how thick on the ground the bodies lay. It’s been a long time since I read and enjoyed them. Another author who is a master of the caper, heavily seasoned by humor, is Donald Westlake. The Dortmunder series was golden in my memory, but, again, it’s been a long time.
My first and favorite Westlake, though, is The Spy in the Ointment. It’s got to be pretty dated, and it is not about theft, but I just wanted to put it out there cuz I do remember loving it..
@Ely- I’m not the original requester of this rec league, but I sure wouldn’t say no to some Raiders of the Lost Ark/TheMummy/Lost City-type archaeology adventure romances!
Wasn’t there a Rec League for heists some years back? Not quite the same thing, I know, but you’d possibly find some overlap.
Emily C – it would be my absolute pleasure!
◦ Capturing the Silken Thief by Jeannie Lin (the other books in the series aren’t about solving thefts, unfortunately)
◦ Stolen Series by Elisabeth Naughton
◦ Desert Gold, Valley of Gems and Silver Canyon by Kris Bock
◦ Empire of Shadows (Raiders of the Arcana book 1) by Jacquelyn Benson (I’ve been a broken record about this book on this site before, series is not complete)
◦ Livi Talbot series by Skyla Dawn Cameron (the last book will only be released to Patreon, I think, which is a real shame but apparently book piracy has been really bad)
◦ Thrill of the Hunt series by Helen Harper (only the first 2 books have been released)
◦ Rust & Relics duology by Lindsay Buroker
◦ This is really stretching the definition but I love these books and they do involve treasure hunting – The Kraken King and Heart of Steel by Meljean Brook
◦ Mr Impossible by Loretta Chase
◦ The Talisman Ring by Georgette Heyer (this is probably the closest to an actual theft mystery)
It’s not really a romance series (and can be pretty gory unfortunately) but the Jack West series by Matthew Reilly is some high quality popcorn archaeology, if you’re into that sort of thing. I only mention this series bc it’s much better than most of the usual pop archaeology (here’s looking at you, Andy McDermott).
Also apparently some of the Captain Lacey mysteries by Ashley Gardiner are thefts, but most are murders. It’s on my TBR still so I can’t say if there’s any romance.
Blank Spaces by Cass Lennox involves two people who meet because of a theft from an art gallery—one is the gallery assistant and the other is with the insurance agency. They do “solve” the crime but the story is more a romance than a mystery. Content note, the two characters are on opposite ends of the asexual/allosexual spectrum, and the happy ending is unconventional.
I read a Nora Roberts in the last couple of months that is totally about a thief. Nightwork is the story of a guy who starts his “career” at age 9 in order to support his Mom through multiple bouts of cancer. He hones his skills while navigating multiple identities, finds and abandons true love due to the exigencies of thiefhood, etc. etc. etc. HEA. The end.
Blank Spaces by Cass Lennox – mm contemporary where a theft brings the h/h together. One works in a Toronto art gallery where something is stolen and the other is an insurance investigator. One of the MCs is ace. Sarah reviewed it here when it came out. It’s been awhile but I remember enjoying it.
Also, this is unrelated, but I went to summer camp (decades ago) with Susan Sey and she was awesome then and I’m delighted to see her name here now.
Firstly A very enthusiastic YES to both THE TALISMAN RING (hilarious) by Georgette Heyer, and MR. IMPOSSIBLE by Loretta Chase (another funny as well). I also wonder if ANY OLD DIAMONDS by K.J. Charles would count? Also, it’s been a loooong time ago but I think FATE’S EDGE by (stellar) Ilona Andrews might qualify. And of course the original THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY by Michael Crichton is still a great read about exactly what the title suggests.
The Place Job by Patrick Weeks is a fantasy heist book that involves retrieving an object stolen by one of the main characters. It’s funny and clever.
The Palace Job. Sorry I didn’t edit before posting.
Thanks for all the recs everyone! I’ll have an investigating session soon 😀
The presence of murders/violence is okay for me, I was more looking for a story that focuses on figuring out how the theft occurred, rather than how the murder occurred.
For one I’ve read recently, THE FEATHER THIEF is a non-fiction about the theft of bird feathers from a small museum in England, as mentioned above, and I can indeed recommend it. The author got interested in the story after hearing it, and he explains the niche hobby around it really interestingly, as well as tracing the people involved in the story.
I haven’t read it yet but Jo Segura’s “Raiders of the Lost Heart” might fit the bill. The blurb mentions a thief lurking around the campsite and it also seems to be an archeology adventure romance like Emily C requested.
Also a little head’s up that “The Three Dahlias” by Katy Watson definitely includes murder and focusses more on it than on the theft (though the theft gets solved as well). I still highly recommend it though as well as the sequel “A Very Lively Murder”. The third book (“Seven Lively Suspects”) comes out in July and I can’t wait~