The Good Thief's Guide to Amsterdam

By: Chris Ewan

Narrated by: Simon Vance

Charlie Howard travels the globe writing suspense novels for a living. To supplement his income - and keep his hand in - Charlie has a small side business: stealing for a very discreet clientele on commission. When a mysterious American offers Charlie 20,000 euros to steal two small monkey figurines to match the one he already has, Charlie is suspicious; the job seems too good to be true, and of course, it is. He soon finds the American beaten nearly to death, while the third figurine has disappeared. Back in London, his literary agent, Victoria (who is naive enough to believe he actually looks like his jacket photo), tries to talk him through the plot problems in both his latest manuscript and in his real life - but Charlie soon finds himself caught up in a caper reminiscent of a Cary Grant movie, involving safe-deposit boxes, menacing characters, and a beautiful damsel in distress.

©2007 Chris Ewan (P)2011 AudioGo

Starts strong but really fizzles

Interesting plot and action to start .. really bogs down with an overly expository latter half. The final section is a lonnnnng discourse where the protagonist is basically giving a speech to wrap things up. Then it ends and you’re like, wait, what?

A bit convoluted and the ending format spoils it

A good cast of characters and an interesting story although a lot is left untold until the end when the main character - a thief - summons all others - including a couple of police inspectors - to a Poirot-style grandiose finale where all is revealed.
While this type of ending worked beautifully for Agatha Christie's beginning of the XX century master detective stories, here it completely destroys the necessary suspension of disbelief.

To catch a thief

A nice modern remake of the to catch a thief concept. The characters were well developed and the story was quite entertaining.

Nice Little Mystery!

This was plain fun! The premise is an old standby but it is wonderfully done. The characters come to life in full color. No lessons to be learned here, no moral to the story really, just a merry band of criminals going about the business of being criminals. Completely enjoyable.

Solid if Predictable

A bit too easy to guess before the end. But solid enough writing and good story telling. Got me through a day of gardening.