Format read: ebook provided by NetGalleyFormats available: ebook
Genre: Contemporary romance
Series: Agency of Burglary & Theft, #1
Length: 289 pages
Publisher: Kensington Publishing (eKensington)
Date Released: June 6, 2013
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo
Everyone has a talent. Some are just more legal than others. Cat Montgomery steals jewels for AB&T, the premier agency for thieves in Seattle. Career perks: good pay, great disguises, constant adrenaline rush. Drawbacks: the possibility of jail time…or worse. Now she’s taken on a lucrative side job—recovering a priceless Faberge egg for an alleged Romanov descendent.
Though Cat is working solo, there are plenty of interested players. Her FBI ex-boyfriend is nosing around, as is her former mentor-turned-nemesis. Then there’s the sexy art thief helping—or is he hindering?—her mission. If her luck holds out, this could be the case that allows Cat to retire with her conscience and her life intact. If not, it’ll be her last job for all the wrong reasons…
My Review:
Everyone loves a great caper story–that’s what made Ocean’s Eleven so popular–twice!
A Beautiful Heist is just that, the story of a great caper, a high stakes robbery (the penny-ante stuff isn’t any fun) but it’s more than that.
In the midst of that high-stakes robbery we have one of the classic forbidden romances: the thief and the cop, well, FBI agent, who have fallen for each other and can’t manage to fall out.
And then there’s two of the greatest stories ever told, all wrapped up in the beautiful object being stolen, one of the missing Fabergé eggs and the secret inside. There are secrets within secrets within secrets.
Cat Montgomery is a thief, and she’s very, very good at her job. It is a job, she even has a real employer: AB&T, the premier thieving agency in Seattle. As long as she plays by the rules, the job has a lot of perks.
The problem is that AB&T is a real employer that files real tax returns, and Cat hasn’t. So when the IRS comes calling for back taxes, Cat takes a very risky side-job for someone she can’t check out properly. She thinks she’s returning one of the lost Fabergé eggs to the Romanov family.
Instead she’s stealing one of those treasures from a Romanov descendant and giving it to, whom exactly?
Stealing it back turns out to be much, much harder than the original theft. The egg’s new owners turn out to be very, very nasty people. But Cat feels like she has to right the wrong she created. No matter what it costs.
Because Cat’s not sure who is betraying her, but someone certainly is.
Escape Rating B: A Beautiful Heist does remind me a lot of one of those great caper stories, because those movies are usually built with multiple plot misdirections that layer one on top of another, and keep you guessing until the very end.
The overarching story is the caper itself. Cat stealing the egg, and then, stealing it back. Everything else fits under that big umbrella. Maybe the better picture would be circus tent.
There’s also Cat’s redemption story. Cat is still trying to forgive herself for her sister’s death. Penny died in an auto accident because Cat wouldn’t steal something from another student’s locker. Cat still hasn’t forgiven herself.
Then there’s the love story between Cat and Jack, Cat’s once and future love-interest. They did break up, because, well, a thief and an FBI agent, that’s a recipe for disaster. But they broke up because they thought they should, not because they were really done with each other. They’re so obviously not.
And speaking of Jack, the way that Cat and Jack resolve their differences revolves around the secret of the egg, which turned out to be a humdinger. This particular bit of mythology, which I’m desperately trying not to give away, was one that I haven’t seen before. The egg, yes, the Romanovs, yes, this particular thing inside the egg, no. And very cool.
Hmm, I’m intrigued! I’d like to get to know Cat myself.
Thanks for being on the tour!