Thieves!: Ten Stories of Surprising Heists, Comical Capers, and Daring Escapades

Anne Hutchings, a former elementary-school teacher-librarian with the
Durham Board of Education, is an educational consultant.

Thieves! presents the true accounts of 10 daring burglaries that have
taken place during the past 150 years. Some are strangely heartwarming,
such as “The Napoleon of Crime.” This is the story of Adam Worth,
who after stealing a portrait of the Duchess of Devonshire, became so
enamoured with it that he refused to sell it. Years later, nearing the
end of his life, he agreed to part with it, but only to ensure his
children’s future.

Some stories, such as “Take the Money and Fly” will have readers
shaking their heads at the sheer audacity of the robber. Several others
even manage to generate a grudging admiration for the felons. Who can
help but admire the “professionalism” of Amil Alfred Dinsio—at
least until he’s caught because he forgot to wash his dishes? Some are
just plain comical. The image of Victor Desmarais and Leo Martial
“buzzing frantically … across the water like a berserk mosquito”
in their futile attempts to fly a float-plane in “Banknotes from
Heaven” can’t fail to elicit chuckles.

The tales are set in a variety of locales from Paris and New York to
Larder Lake in northern Ontario and feature such diverse characters as
Vincenzo Peruggia, who convinces himself that he has rescued rather than
stolen the Mona Lisa, and Arthur Barry, “The Classiest Thief in
Manhattan.” The targets of the thefts differ from railways to art
galleries, from bank vaults to personal safes. Not all of the culprits
are caught. But the stories are alike in one respect: all are
fascinating reads. Recommended.