An Artful Dodge - by Karen Odden (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

She's stolen gems, purses, and hearts--but can she steal her life back from the thieving ring that's claimed it?

Victorian London comes to vivid life in this riveting heist novel about an all-female thieving gang and one young woman's heroic plan to escape a life of crime.

London, 1878: twenty-year-old Kit Jimeson has fingers so nimble she can nick a necklace off a neck in a crowded theater without raising alarm. Kit and her dodge partner, Mary, are the highest earners in the notorious all-women thieving ring in Elephant and Castle, south of the Thames.

Kit, whose mother had been a thief before her, longs for a different life where she's not constantly on the lookout for constables and plainclothes detectives. One mistake, even pure bad luck might land her in the headsman's noose. She has been saving up her earnings so her younger sister, a maid for a wealthy Mayfair family, might have a shot at respectability.

Kit is very close to leaving the life entirely when Maggie O'Connell brings her plans to a halt. A legendary former thief, beautiful, charismatic Maggie has come back to town to reclaim leadership of the ring after twenty years in a brutal Australian penal colony. But Maggie desires more than mere wealth or power: she longs for revenge against those who sent her away. Kit, with her quick mind and dangerously clever hands, is Maggie's best weapon in her vendetta. If she wants to walk away with her life, Kit must carry out a heist that will demand every skill she possesses.

Review Quotes

Praise for Karen Odden

"Period and place are exceptionally well-drawn."
--Oprah Daily

"Enter a world of teeming and dangerous cities portrayed in vitality and amazing detail. Meet characters with tremendous courage and appetite for life, and be glad you can return at will to the present."
--Anne Perry, New York Times bestselling author

"Odden's expertise in Victorian London [offers] readers a vivid depiction of life on the River Thames."
--The Big Thrill

"Impossible to put down."
--Historical Novel Society

About the Author

Karen Odden received her PhD in Victorian literature from New York University. She is the author of five crime novels set in 1870s London: her USA Today bestselling debut, A Lady in the Smoke; A Dangerous Duet and A Trace of Deceit, both winners of the New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards; Down a Dark River, an Oprah Daily Pick; and Under a Veiled Moon, nominated for the Lefty, Anthony, and Agatha Awards for Best Historical. Karen serves on the national board of Sisters in Crime and is the recipient of a Friends of Scottsdale Library's annual Spirit of Literacy Award for her community outreach. She divides her time between Arizona and Utah, where she loves plotting murder while hiking the desert and mountains.