How not to rob an emerald

Thief Packal - a guarantee of wit and humour

When thieves are packals, everything around them and they themselves take a beating. A novel in the so-called "Dortmunder series," named after the unlucky thief John Dortmunder, this is one of Westlake's best-known blends of humor and crime genres.

A seemingly simple plan to steal a rare gem unexpectedly gets complicated and Dortmunder's gang has to break into a museum, a bank, an insane asylum, a prison and a police station. Dortmunder, the hero of fourteen novels and eleven short stories, first appeared in Westlake's 1970 novel The Hot Rock. In addition, he's a genius, he's also the world's unluckiest con man - regardless, how meticulous his plans are, brilliant and elaborate to (almost) the last detail, something always goes wrong. Westlake is known for the great subtlety of his stories' plots and surprising ideas.