Everyone Loves a Good Heist

by Marissa Creamer Rowan Public Library

The masked intruder slipped through a French door of the lavish Carlton International Hotel, scooping up rings, pendants, and diamond-encrusted earrings before making his escape out a window. The brazen daytime heist was over in roughly 60 seconds. With an estimated value of $136 million, it is the largest-value jewel theft in French history and one of the largest in the world.

The July 28, 2013 robbery in the French Riviera resort of Cannes captured attention around the globe.  Stories of heists have long fascinated readers, and jewel heists have been featured in a number of recent books, including these titles available at Rowan Public Library:

                In “The Great Pearl Heist: London’s Greatest Thief and Scotland Yard’s Hunt for the World’s Most Valuable Necklace,” Molly Caldwell Crosby tells the true story of the 1913 collaboration between a notorious jewel thief and the Chief Inspector of Scotland Yard as they hunt  for a precious pearl necklace worth more than the Hope Diamond. Reading like a fast-paced crime thriller, the book describes the theft of the famed pink Meyer pearls, worth nearly $20 million in today’s currency.  Set in the underworld of London’s Hatton Garden jewelry district in the days before World War I, the sting operation to regain the pearls and subsequent highly-publicized trial were a major influence on British crime detection and the legal system.

In his first novel to be released in the U.S., best-selling Flemish author Pieter Aspe introduces us to Belgian Detective Inspector Pieter Van In, who solves crimes in the medieval city of Bruges.  “The Square of Revenge” involves a most unusual jewelry store robbery: the precious gems were not stolen, but melted in a vat of acid. Left behind in the empty safe is a scrap of paper with a Latin message in the form of a square.  As the investigation progresses, these cryptic messages continue to appear, and Van In discovers that the crime involves secrets from generations past.  

Ally Carter brings us a jewel heist story for teens in “Uncommon Criminals,” part of the Heist Society series. Raised in a family of art thieves, Katarina Bishop has decided to use her skills to return items to their rightful owners. Returning priceless objects of art plundered by the Nazis is one thing, but stealing the infamous Cleopatra Emerald from an unscrupulous dealer is another job altogether. Kat and her team concoct a scheme to liberate the reputedly cursed jewel. It’s a whirlwind adventure around the globe as Kat seeks the elusive Cleopatra. Will she be able to dodge the curse and return the emerald to its rightful owners?

Best-selling authors Catherine Coulter and J. T. Ellison team up to introduce a new series featuring Chief inspector Nicholas Drummond of Scotland Yard. In “The Final Cut” Drummond investigates the theft of the crown jewel of the Metropolitan Museum of Art:  the Koh-i-Noor diamond from the Queen Mother’s crown.  In the course of this action-packed thriller, Drummond connects with FBI agents Savitch and Sherlock from Coulter’s previous works.

Whether factual or fictional, you are sure to find a good heist story at Rowan Public Library.