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Love a Heist? These Books Deliver, With a Dose of Magic.
The best-selling fantasy writer Holly Black recommends novels that blend the thrills of a well-executed crime with intrigue and sorcery.
Credit...The New York Times
Holly Black
Holly Black is the No. 1 New York Times best-selling author of the Novels of Elfhame, “The Coldest Girl in Coldtown,” the Spiderwick Chronicles, “Book of Night”* *and, most recently, “Thief of Night.” Her books have been translated into 32 languages worldwide and adapted for film and television.
Nov. 5, 2025, 5:00 a.m. ET
Fantasy is so often associated with knights and royals that books centered around criminals can feel deliciously transgressive, despite a long tradition. From the antics of…
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Love a Heist? These Books Deliver, With a Dose of Magic.
The best-selling fantasy writer Holly Black recommends novels that blend the thrills of a well-executed crime with intrigue and sorcery.
Credit...The New York Times
Holly Black
Holly Black is the No. 1 New York Times best-selling author of the Novels of Elfhame, “The Coldest Girl in Coldtown,” the Spiderwick Chronicles, “Book of Night”* *and, most recently, “Thief of Night.” Her books have been translated into 32 languages worldwide and adapted for film and television.
Nov. 5, 2025, 5:00 a.m. ET
Fantasy is so often associated with knights and royals that books centered around criminals can feel deliciously transgressive, despite a long tradition. From the antics of Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser to Bilbo Baggins’s stint as a burglar in J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit,” crime fiction is great fun when combined with the speculative. You can keep your epic heroes: I want to follow the slickster who’s greasing palms, staging jailbreaks and smuggling faerie wine while the fate of the world hangs in the balance.
Fantasy crimes, cons and heists offer specific pleasures above and beyond the vicarious thrill of a well-executed job. For one, they usually require a team of flawed, charismatic antiheroes, each with their own shifting loyalties and twisty back stories. The team offers the additional pleasure of expertise: It’s fun to watch someone be very good at what they do, even if what they do isn’t in the service of goodness.
Then there’s the meticulous world-building. If you’re going to spend time in a realm’s underbelly, its magic systems and social structures need to be delineated clearly enough for the reader to puzzle through the loopholes along with the crooks.
And just as mystery readers test their cleverness by cracking a case alongside a literary detective, readers of fantasy thrillers can prove theirs by guessing how the miscreants will outwit the authorities and get away scot free. That’s a game I love to set up as a writer, and to play along with as a reader. Here are some of the books that pull off seemingly impossible heists with panache — and a little magic.
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The Blacktongue Thief
by Christopher Buehlman
Kinch Na Shannack is already deep in debt to the Takers Guild for educating him in the ways of thievery when he makes an ill-advised attempt to rob Galva, a knight and veteran of the goblin wars. The Guild gives him one last opportunity to pay off his debt or die trying: He must accompany Galva on her quest to find her lost queen, navigating a world of witches, flesh-eating goblins and assassins that can fold themselves up to hide inside cats. Come for the wildly original world-building; stay for the romp.
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The Monsters We Defy
by Leslye Penelope
Set on and around the Black Broadway neighborhood of Washington, D.C., in the 1920s, this gorgeous historical fantasy combines a folkloric bent with a truly excellent heist. Clara Johnson has a unique gift (the ability to talk to spirits) that comes with a unique curse (she is magically bound never to refuse a direct request for help). The only way to extricate herself from this devil’s bargain? Steal a wealthy woman’s magical ring in exchange for her freedom. This book has one of the cleverest magic systems I’ve come across, plus a delightful array of performers and outcasts — each with their own gifts — whom Clara recruits to help her pull off the job.
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Foundryside
by Robert Jackson Bennett
In a world where magical scrivings can make objects sentient and bend the laws of nature, Sancia Grado’s ability to read an object’s history with one touch makes her the perfect thief: It is simple enough to pick a lock when the lock is practically telling you how to do it. But the constant onslaught of information is draining and, hoping to get a big enough score to leave the thieving business behind, Sancia takes on a dangerous job. It goes spectacularly sideways, leaving her in possession of an artifact that could reshape her world — and in the cross hairs of those who want to use it. Not only is Sancia an enormously appealing and complex protagonist, but she is surrounded by an equally charming supporting cast that you just want to keep hanging out with (happily, this is the first book in a trilogy).
Read our review.
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Among Thieves
by M.J. Kuhn
Ryia Cautella has made a name for herself as the Butcher of Carrowwick, working as a hired knife for a criminal syndicate in a magical kingdom ruled over by the mysterious Guildmaster. But Ryia’s name is a lie, and her true identity is a secret. When she and her crew — a smitten gambler, a fallen castle guard, a smuggler and a master of disguise — attempt to steal an object that is the key to the Guildmaster’s power, all her secrets unravel. The joy of this book is the delightfully nasty crew, all of whom have their own reasons to stab each other in the back — and temperaments to match.
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The Thief
by Megan Whalen Turner
Gen — a prickly, sarcastic young thief stuck in the king of Sounis’s prison — boasts that he can steal anything. Taking Gen at his word, the king’s adviser forces him on a quest to steal a sacred stone, known as Hamiathes’s Gift, which he believes could shift the balance of power between the rival countries of Sounis, Eddis and Attolia. But nothing is quite what it seems in this book where every line matters. A young adult novel (and Newbery Honor book), it is much beloved by readers of all ages: I have personally bought copies and shoved them into many people’s hands. The payoff is stunning, and the series that follows is one of my favorites of all time.
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The Lies of Locke Lamora
by Scott Lynch
This thrilling novel is a classic of the fantasy heist genre. Locke Lamora, a scrappy orphan turned formidable con artist, and his band of Gentleman Bastards are smarter and funnier than everyone else in the Venice-like, alchemy-lit city of Camorr. When they’re double-crossed, they prove that they’re also indomitable. The ending absolutely sticks the landing. Oh, and did I mention the gladiatorial shark battles?
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Six of Crows
by Leigh Bardugo
Yes, everyone recommends “Six of Crows” when talking about fantasy heists, but that’s because it’s so good. Kaz Brekker, the ruthless and brilliant leader of the Dregs gang, agrees to a lucrative but impossible job: breaking an inventor out of an impenetrable Ice Court prison. When the heist goes sideways, the members of Kaz’s hyper-competent crew must each choose between their own best chance at survival, and their fierce loyalty to this unlikely found family. Bardugo balances clever plotting and careful characterization, letting small moments carry hefty emotional weight, in this first half of a perfect duology.
Read our review.
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