THE INCREDIBLE TRUE STORY OF ONE OF THE WORLD'S MOST SUCCESSFUL JEWEL THIEVES, WHO CHARMED THE ELITE OF 1920S NEW YORK, SWIPED GEMS WORTH MILLIONS OF DOLLARS FROM THEIR POSH COUNTRY ESTATES, AND OUTFOXED THE POLICE AND PRIVATE DETECTIVES ON HIS TRAIL
“The greatest jewel thief who ever lived.” – Life magazine
THE GREAT GATSBY MEETS CATCH ME IF YOU CAN AND THE HIT NETFLIX SERIES LUPIN IN THIS ROLLICKING TALE OF AN AUDACIOUS AND CHARMING GENTLEMAN CROOK
Coming June 2024 from Algonquin BookS/Hachette Hachette UK & HarperCollins Canada
Preorder now!
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Suave and movie-star handsome, Arthur Barry charmed New York’s millionaires and celebrities as he planned and executed some of the most brazen and lucrative heists of the 1920s. Think Cary Grant’s character was clever and slick in the Hitchcock classic To Catch a Thief ? This gentleman thief was smarter, smoother, and one of the most resourceful and successful burglars in history.
Barry was a crafty con artist who donned a tuxedo to crash the parties of the rich and famous as he planned his burglaries. And he was an accomplished “second-story man” who could slip in and out of bedrooms undetected as his victims dined downstairs or slept only inches away. In a span of seven years he stole diamonds, pearls and other precious gems worth almost $60 million today.
“I know he’s terrible, but isn’t he charming?” – Robbery victim Dorothea Livermore
His targets were the Long Island, Westchester County, and Connecticut estates of the ultra-rich and his victims included Percy Rockefeller, nephew of John D. and one of the richest men in America; Tulsa oil tycoon Joshua Cosden; Lady Edwina Mountbatten, a member of Britain’s royal family; Wall Street investing legend Jesse Livermore; bankers and industrialists; executives of Chrysler and General Motors; a famous polo player; and Jessie Donahue, heiress to the Woolworth five-and-dime store fortune. Barry befriended the Prince of Wales, Harry Houdini and other luminaries. And he became a celebrity and a folk hero, touted in newspaper headlines as the Prince of Thieves, a Modern Robin Hood, and the Aristocrat of Crime. Life magazine proclaimed him “the greatest jewel thief who ever lived.”
New York State Archives
“THE SLICKEST SECOND-STORY MAN IN THE EAST.” – TIME
Barry’s high-flying career, like the stock market frenzy of the Roaring Twenties, crashed to earth as the decade came to a close. His story, however, was far from over. When his wife Anna Blake became seriously ill, he staged a spectacular prison break to be at her side. Ahead lay years on the run as a fugitive, shocking allegations of involvement in the Lindbergh kidnapping and, ultimately, a chance for redemption.
This tale of wealth, glamor, and deception, a charming and debonair crook, and some of the most outlandish jewel thefts in history captures the exuberance and excess that defined the Jazz Age.
Foreign Rights & Film/TV rights available
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Reviews, Interviews & Media Coverage
“A top-shelf work of true crime … Jobb tells Barry’s tale with both rigor and pathos, painting a tender portrait of a crook who was never fearsome …. This is liable to steal readers’ hearts.” – ★ Publisher’s Weekly (starred review)
“Jobb brings [Barry] vividly to life in this topflight true crime narrative .… This belongs in every library’s true crime section for every reader of this ever-growing genre.” – Booklist
“The criminal exploits of Arthur Barry, one of the most successful thieves in history.” – CBC Books
“A true-crime caper.” – Library Journal
Broadway, looking south toward Times Square (Author Collection)
Advance praise
“Dean Jobb has long been a master of narrative nonfiction, rummaging through the past to uncover lost gems of history. And in this mesmerizing tale about a Jazz Age gentlemanly thief, Jobb has found his own perfect jewel.” – David Grann, New York Times #1 bestselling author of The Wager and Killers of the Flower Moon
“A Gentleman and a Thief is an enthrallingly propulsive, unpredictably twisty biography of one of the most fascinating criminals of the 20th Century. Dean Jobb’s immersive writing and in-depth research brings this startling true story to life. I was hooked from the very first heist.” – Michael Finkel, bestselling author of The Art Thief and The Stranger in the Woods
“A dazzling triumph of narrative nonfiction. Dean Jobb writes as nimbly as his ‘gentleman thief’ moves through the darkened homes of his wealthy targets – and delivers a roaring tour of 1920s high society.” – Mitchell Zuckoff, New York Times bestselling author of Lost in Shangri-La and Ponzi’s Scheme
“Dean Jobb has unearthed a long-forgotten anti-hero from the annals of true crime and spun a tale so deliciously wicked I wish I’d written it myself. I was enthralled by the audacious exploits of jewel thief Arthur Barry, who is so wonderfully drawn that I couldn’t help rooting for him. A Gentleman and a Thief is an irresistible slice of New York and Jazz Age history.” – Abbott Kahler, New York Times bestselling author (as Karen Abbott) of The Ghosts of Eden Park
“In this glittering gem of a book, which follows the rise, fall and eventual redemption of one of America’s most delightful jewel thieves, author Dean Jobb proves that, like his subject, he is a master of the craft. A Gentleman and a Thief is an addictively readable, don’t-miss story.” – Deborah Blum, Pulitzer-prize winning author of The Poisoner’s Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York
“A potent cocktail of high-end grift and Roaring Twenties opulence, Jobb's latest page-turner sparkles like a trove of stolen diamonds. F. Scott Fitzgerald himself couldn't have made up this story.” – Joe Pompeo, Vanity Fair correspondent and author of Blood & Ink: The Scandalous Jazz Age Double Murder that Hooked America on True Crime
“Dean Jobb gives us a real-life character like no other, an audacious jewel thief working the society parlors of Jazz Age New York. Here is a book to put alongside the other greats of narrative nonfiction, as cinematic and vivid as any in the catalog of true crime storytelling.” – Michael Cannell, author of A Brotherhood Betrayed and Incendiary
“This captivating tale will charm its way into your affections like the charismatic rogue at its heart. A Gentleman and a Thief is the glittering jewel of its genre. Once more, Dean Jobb proves he’s a master storyteller.” – Lindsey Fitzharris, New York Times bestselling author of The Facemaker
“Dean Jobb’s meticulous and entertaining excavation of the Jazz Age uncovers the charming Arthur Barry, a once-celebrated and now nearly forgotten ‘second-story man’ – a high society jewel thief of the first order. This gem of a book brings the Roaring Twenties back to life.” – Glenn Stout, author of Tiger Girl and the Candy Kid and Young Woman and the Sea
In 1925 Barry swiped pearls worth millions today from the Plaza Hotel suite of Woolworth department store heiress Jessie Donahue. (Author Collection)