Category: Adult Fiction (18 +), 296 pages
Genre: Humorous Fiction
Publisher: BookBaby
Release date: June 2025
Content Rating: PG-13
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Frustrated novelist Danny is resigned to writing material for trade shows, promoting garage doors and non-stick cookware. His ex-wife threatens legal action for non-payment of alimony. Danny never dreamed the answer to his troubles could be larceny.
But then wealthy, charming Packard Hale III reenters his life. He was Danny's college roommate, and like Lupin and Raffles, he now fancies himself a gentleman thief. Packard hires Danny to write about his capers.
Danny follows Packard as they break into a mansion and steal, among other things, a priceless Chinese vase and a curiously valuable souvenir blanket from Branson, Missouri. However, it's not Packard who is pursued by the police, but Danny.
Simultaneously, he struggles to please his client, a lawn-and-garden CEO with an erotic attraction to lawnmowers. Danny also endures abuse from Soren, a boozy has-been Vegas magician. He tolerates the mistreatment because of Crystal, the magician's assistant. He's falling for her.
When he learns Soren screwed Crystal out of rights to magic tricks she's created -- and in spite of the cops on his tail -- Danny plots revenge. He and Packard attempt the daring theft of a state-of-the-art lawnmower—during a live performance in front of 400 people.
Expect to smile from beginning to end as you read The Gentleman Thief Steals a Blanket. The book starts with silliness as readers meet Packard and experience the characteristic banter that will persist throughout the book. The novel is heavy on dialogue--and this back-and-forth dialogue is full of silliness and humor that will spark eye rolls, head shakes, and full-on laughter. My daughter likes to say, with her favorite, made-up word, "It was so un-serious," when she reads or watches something where the characters fall into one misadventure after another in perfect comedic timing — and this book offers that rolling flow of smiles from beginning to end.
Bumbling Characters Drive the Storyline. The characters are loveable, laughable, endearing victims of chance and mishaps that just drive a fun story. You will root for happy endings--and laugh at the situations from all character angles as you move through the story. It's impossible to dislike Danny or Packard--or even the detectives tasked with justice. Every scene connects well to offer silliness and fun, but also connects just as well to give readers a complete story and a satisfying ending.
Would I Recommend The Gentleman Thief Steals a Blanket by Mark Nutter? If you enjoy light reads, cozy mysteries, and comedies that are well-organized enough to hold a plot while throwing silly antics left and right--this is a very entertaining novel for your reading list. If you want a serious crime novel--this isn't it--but, if you want to step back and slip into a silly misadventure that will keep you entertained from beginning to end, give this book a spot on your reading list.
MARK NUTTER grew up in a motel near Joliet, Illinois, which is not as glamorous as it sounds. He's the author of the humorous heist novel The Gentleman Thief Steals a Blanket. He wrote three collections of comedic short stories: Giant Banana Over Texas, Dancer on the Ceiling, and Sunset Cruise on the River Styx. He won the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award and the LA Weekly Theater Award for the music & lyrics for Reanimator the Musical. Mark also wrote for television (SNL, 3rd Rock from the Sun) and feature film (Almost Heroes).
