6 Novels and Films Featuring Wild Historical Capers

Con, heist, and sting-driven capers allow us to live vicariously through our discontented heroes, watching them attempt to right what’s wrong in the universe through a series of careful orchestrations and elaborate schemes. And of course, things never go according to plan, which always makes the ultimate swindle that much more satisfying.

In our novel, My Fair Frauds, our wronged heroines take justice into their own hands in Gilded Age Manhattan by setting into motion a grand scheme to take down five robber-baron families during the course of a single New York social season. The stakes are high, the plan sprawling, and the reading experience, we hope, loads of fun.

Here are six storied schemes that influenced My Fair Frauds. We guarantee you’ll be fully immersed, as well as unabashedly cheering for these underdogs.

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George Roy Hill, The Sting (1973)

A Paul Newman and Robert Redford classic, this 1973 caper features two con men–Newman as a seasoned grifter, and Redford as a newcomer motivated by revenge. After laying the bait and assembling their team, the pair ill-advisedly set out to take down a ruthless mobster through a long-game con, which features a bogus off-track betting parlor, fake Feds, and double agents.

The Sting is still the grifting gold standard in our minds, one of the smartest and slickest con-man capers of all time, featuring brilliant performances and too many twists and turns to count.

Michael Crichton, The Great Train Robbery

Before Jurassic Park and Rising Sun, Michael Crichton turned both his pen and his directing ability to this dramatization of a real-life heist that stunned Victorian England. In this novel, and later, Sean Connery-starring film, Crichton tells the story of mastermind Edward Pierce and his plan to rob a war-bound train laden with a fortune in gold. The treasure is protected by four keys, all held by different officials, requiring a series of thefts.

To pull it all off, Pierce must assemble a motley crew of ne’er-do-wells–a forger, an actress, a cabby and a burglar. The schemes are complex and the accomplices untrustworthy, especially when the heat is on. But when all that plotting rockets to a final-act triumphant conclusion, this robbery truly earns the title of great.

Frank Oz, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

Lighter than some other films on this list, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels’ Michael Caine has been grifting wealthy female tourists in a fancy resort town by playing a fake royal desperate for donations to save his homeland. Cue new-to-town Steve Martin, who cuts in on Caine’s turf with his slick, low-brow schemes to get rich quick.

After their short-lived alliance fizzles, Caine and Martin challenge one another to a winner-take-all: whoever scams their chosen mark first gets a “swindle monopoly” on the town, while the other has to scram. Hilarious and heartfelt, Scoundrels gets even more complicated when the chosen mark turns out to have a few tricks up her own sleeve.

Sarah Waters, Fingersmith

There’s one rule for a reader going into Sarah Waters’ masterful 2002 historical crime novel: trust absolutely no one. As twisty as the Victorian London alleys and country estate backhalls that form the setting of this tale of a long-con seventeen years in the making, it’s no surprise that this novel has been adapted several times, notably in South Korean director Park Chan-Wook’s The Handmaiden.

Fingersmith takes its name from an old-fashioned word for a petty thief–but also nods to the erotic charge thrumming through this story of two women who fall in love amid the darkest of circumstances.

Ocean’s 8

We’re fans of the entire Ocean’s franchise, but there’s a soft spot in our hearts for the all-female crew at the center of Ocean’s 8. Sandra Bullock, leading a dynamite ensemble cast, builds an elaborately brilliant scheme to steal a $150 million necklace from the New York Met, while the Met Gala is happening.

The story choices are big and bold, total popcorn-movie fare, as Bullock’s team encounters one complication after another. Especially memorable: Anne Hathaway as the self-absorbed actress tasked with wearing the necklace in question to the Gala.

Leigh Bardugo, Six of Crows

Yes, Leigh Bardugo’s acclaimed 2015 novel sits firmly on the fantasy shelf–but it’s just as brilliant, tortuous and gritty as any crime fiction out there. Set in Bardugo’s Grisha universe, this time in the vibrantly corrupt merchant city of Ketterdam, Six of Crows immerses readers in a world of assassins, sex workers, gangsters and drug dealers—along with superpowers, forbidden attractions and long-buried secrets.

Hired by a wealthy man to break a scientist out of a seemingly impenetrable fortress, this crack crew, led by inimitable master thief Kaz Brekker, squabbles, schemes and scrambles their way into achieving the impossible. In the end, all elements combine to make this an all-time crime caper classic, with magic as the icing on the cake.

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