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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Piratecat" data-source="post: 1565659" data-attributes="member: 2">If you enjoy conman/teamwork stories (think Ocean's Eleven, only funnier) you'd really like these books. They're the best caper novels I've ever read, filled with wonderfully complex plot lines that somehow make complete sense. The books by Donald E. Westlake star a hapless thief named John Archibald Dortmunder and his cronies. Dortmunder is an extremely competent burglar and a master planner, but he also has horrible luck. To quote from a web page I just googled:If you are unfamiliar with Dortmunder, he is a professional thief who specializes in making impossible jobs possible, like robbing a whole bank - - not just the money, the entire building; or retrieving buried bank loot from a town that has been turned into a reservoir (and the cash is now under six feet of ground under six feet of water). Dortmunder's plans are usually flawless. Unfortunately, his companions are not, and things go wrong in wonderfully unexpected ways.NOVELS<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The Hot Rock (1970), recently reprinted (The group steals, and re-steals, the Baloboma Emerald.)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Bank Shot (1972) (The group robs an entire bank.)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Jimmy the Kid (1974) (probably the worst of the collection; the group kidnaps a precocious child.)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Nobody's Perfect (1977) (Dortmunder and the gang steal a priceless painting so the owner can collect the insurance only to have everything go wrong.)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Why Me? (1983) (Dortmunder accidentally steals a famous gem, inciting a massive manhunt that has all of New York screaming for his head.)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Good Behaviour (1985) (After falling through the roof of a convent, Dortmunder agrees to help some nuns retrieve one of their Sisters. How do you steal back a nun?)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Drowned Hopes (1990) (The group tries to retrieve a fortune from a flooded reservoir.)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Don't Ask (1993) (The group hires on to steal a holy relic from an Eastern European consolate, but it's harder than it looks.)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">What's The Worst That Could Happen? (1996) (After an egotistical businessman steals Dortmunder's lucky ring during a failed heist, Dortmunder vows to steal it back -- even if he has to rob every single one of the man's properties to do so.)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Bad News (2001) (Dortmunder and friends are hired to swap a corpse, and fall into a brilliant casino scam.)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The Road to Ruin (2004) (Dortmunder works to steal an antique car collection, not knowing that three other groups want the owner dead.)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Thieves Dozen (2004) (A collection fo short stories.)</li> </ul>I can't tell you how much I enjoy these, only partially because the gang reminds me of a gaming group.  "The Hot Rock" or "What's The Worst That Could Happen?" are two of my favorite books, and great places to start.</blockquote>

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