Discover Well-Read Black Girl Books and the projects reshaping publishing →

Book Summary and Reviews of The Good Thief's Guide to Venice by Chris Ewan

The Good Thief's Guide to Venice by Chris Ewan

The Good Thief's Guide to Venice

A Mystery

by Chris Ewan

  • Critics' Consensus (0):
  • Published:
  • Aug 2011, 336 pages
  • Rate this book

About this book

Book Summary

Charlie, a gentleman thief to rival Cary Grant in 'To Catch a Thief,' gallivants around Venice in the next caper in this 'sparkling' series.

After a particularly bad streak of luck in Vegas, Charlie has retreated to Venice, having vowed to give up a life of crime to write crime fiction full-time. But inspiration has yet to strike. And to make matters worse, Charlie's agent Victoria shows up at his door just as his prized first edition of The Maltese Falcon flies out the window with a femme-fatale burglar. Blackmailed into committing a dastardly crime in order to get his book back, Charlie is catapulted into yet another adventure, this one even more explosive than the last.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Reviews

Media Reviews

"Starred Review. Ewan can turn a Wodehousian phrase on occasion, and his taut plotting adds substance to his considerable style." - Publishers Weekly

"Enjoyable mayhem... [An] engaging and well-paced crime caper." - The Guardian (UK)

"Ewan... creates a witty action caper that can only be described in best Italian terms as a proper bunga-bunga." - The Times (UK)

"The Good Thief's Guide to Venice is fun holiday reading and the perfect thing to lounge with in the sun... The action moves along at a cracking pace and the characters are well drawn." - My Favourtie Books (UK)

This information about The Good Thief's Guide to Venice was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

Click here and be the first to review this book!

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Author Information

Chris Ewan Author Biography

Chris Ewan, who lives on the Isle of Man, was voted one of America's favorite British authors in a Huffington Post poll. He is the author of the stand-alone thriller, Safe House, which was named by The Telegraph as one of the top ten crime novels to take on vacation, and the Good Thief mystery series. The first in the series, The Good Thief's Guide to Amsterdam, was named one of the "best books for grownups" by Publishers Weekly and AARP The Magazine, and one of the best thrillers of the year by the London Times.

Link to Chris Ewan's Website

Other books by Chris Ewan at BookBrowse
Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Read-Alikes

Read-Alikes Full readalike results are for members only

If you liked The Good Thief's Guide to Venice, try these:

  • Fagin the Thief jacket

    Fagin the Thief

    by Allison Epstein

    Published 2026

    About this book

    A thrilling reimagining of the world of Charles Dickens, as seen through the eyes of the infamous Jacob Fagin, London's most gifted pickpocket, liar, and rogue.

  • The Dime Museum jacket

    The Dime Museum

    by Joyce Hinnefeld

    Published 2025

    About this book

    Hinnefeld's web of characters are bound by legacies, genes, philanthropy, and chance but gravitate largely around Charlie, a rich, white, college graduate who ends up in Venice.

  • When These Mountains Burn jacket

    When These Mountains Burn

    by David Joy

    Published 2023

    About this book

    Acclaimed author and "remarkably gifted storyteller" (the Charlotte Observer) David Joy returns with a fierce and tender tale of a father, an addict, a lawman, and the explosive events that come to unite them.

We have 10 read-alikes for The Good Thief's Guide to Venice, but non-members are limited to three results. Join free to see the complete list of recommendations.
Search read-alikes
How we choose read-alikes
Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

BookBrowse Book Club

Book Jacket
When No One Else Will
by Amanda Skenandore
1940s Chicago nurse risks everything at an illegal women’s clinic during a high-profile trial of courage and sisterhood.

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket
    The Jellyfish Problem
    by Tessa Yang
    A marine biologist rescues a Maine island menaced by a giant glowing jellyfish in this inventive debut.
  • Book Jacket
    Look What You Made Me Do
    by John Lanchester
    A propulsive tale of intergenerational tension and revenge from the Booker Prize nominee.
  • Book Jacket
    Dangerous, Dirty, Violent, and Young
    by Zayd Ayers Dohrn
    Son of Weather Underground radicals recounts life on the run and decades of revolutionary struggle.
Who Said...

Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Book
Trivia
  • Book Trivia

    Can you name the title?

    Test your book knowledge with our daily trivia challenge!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

Q S, S

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.