THE CAPER’S THE THING! Writing Mystery Where Things Get Stolen! By the Main Character, That Is!

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THE CAPER’S THE THING! Writing Mystery Where Things Get Stolen! By the Main Character, That Is!

4-week online class with Beth Daniels, from April 1-26.

There are a heck of a lot of niches in the mystery genre that writers gravitate to, but there is one that is frequently overlooked: The Caper! That doesn’t mean it isn’t a popular theme—you know, stealing things. It’s merely that the person “stealing things” isn’t often the main character. And yet, it’s a theme that does so well at the movies! To Catch a Thief, Oceans Eleven, Oceans Twelve, Oceans Thirteen, Oceans Eight, The Italian Job, Tower Heist, The Thomas Crown Affair, The Great Train Robbery, The Bank Job, Inception, The Pink Panther, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Baby Driver, The Sting, A Fish Called Wanda, and Red Notice, to just mention…well, a lot, and there are even more that qualify. The late Donald Westlake’s Dortmunder series followed a thief who, with his crew of buddies, tended to bumble every job they attempted. The late Leslie Charteris’s The Saint followed the adventures of a debonaire Robin Hoodlike thief, in a series that stretched from 1928 into the 1980s and was a popular TV show in the 1960s starring Roger Moore (later the longest employed movie 007) as Simon Templar, aka The Saint. There were even movie attempts and regular radio shows featuring The Saint. But today, where you find most stories with thieves as the good guys, is in fantasy! Take the recent Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves with Chris Pine as one of our thieves, as an example. Main characters who steal things are also popular in historicals, particularly historical romance where pirates and highwaymen have been with us for decades, though I’ll confess that my favorite highwayman is S.T. Maitland in Laura Kinsale’s The Prince of Midnight. So, why does the Caper mystery seem to have fallen from the ranks of contemporary mystery? Or at least be in hiding rather than in the forefront? The movies certainly prove there is a market out there. Join me for a month of not only sorting this out but dreaming up some caper mysteries to challenge the lists and snag readers of your own!

About the Instructor:

Beth Daniels’ bought her first story featuring Simon Templar with her first paycheck after high school graduation. From among the movies noted, thirteen of them are either in her DVD collection, or purchased for streaming frequently in the future. She’s the author of nearly 40 novels (#40 releases in 2025), short stories, novellas, and non-fiction books about writing genre fiction. Visit her at www.4TaleTellers.com