The caper story is a subgenre of crime fiction. The typical caper story involves one or more crimes (especially thefts, swindles, or occasionally kidnappings) perpetrated by the main characters in full view of the reader. The actions of police or detectives attempting to prevent or solve the crimes may also be chronicled, but are not the main focus of the story.
The caper story is distinguished from the straight crime story by elements of humor, adventure, or unusual cleverness or audacity. The main characters often have comical idiosyncrasies and the law enforcement individuals are characterized by ineptitude or inadequacies. The criminals comically plan a crime with details unnecessary for the nature of the crime and humour is created when their personalities clash and their quirks are exposed. [1] For instance, the Dortmunder stories of Donald E. Westlake are highly comic tales involving unusual thefts by a gang of offbeat characters — in different stories Dortmunder's gang steals the same gem several times, steals an entire branch bank, and kidnaps someone from an asylum by driving a stolen train onto the property. By contrast, the same author's Parker stories (published under the name Richard Stark) are grimly straightforward accounts of mundane crime — the criminal equivalent of the police procedural. Others, such as Lawrence Block's Bernie Rhodenbarr novels, feature a role reversal, an honest criminal and crooked cop, and the use of burglar Rhodenbarr's criminal talents to solve murders.
A caper may appear as a subplot in a larger work. For example, Tom Sawyer's plot to steal Jim out of slavery in the last part of Huckleberry Finn is a classic caper.
Etymology
The verb to caper means to leap in a frolicsome way,[2] and probably derives from capriole,[3] which derives from the Latin for goat (Capra). The noun caper[4] means a frolicsome leap, a capricious escapade or an illegal or questionable act.
A Tough One to Lose (1972) by Tony Kenrick, who is often compared with Westlake — an entire airplane and hundreds of passengers go missing; how did this happen?
Stealing Lillian (1975) by Tony Kenrick — A con artist is enlisted to stage a kidnapping to capture some terrorists (film rights were purchased, according to the dust jacket, but the film was never made)
The Seven Day Soldiers (1976) by Tony Kenrick — three suburbanites rob a bank by mail, then must battle the mafioso whom they robbed (film rights were purchased, to be directed by Robert Aldrich and to star Steve McQueen, according to the dust jacket, but the film was never made)
Two Lucky People (1981) by Tony Kenrick — A man and woman, both with only weeks to live, decide to spend their last days defeating a criminal ... in a farcical way.
Glitterbug (1991) by Tony Kenrick — An amnesiac must deal with the many criminals who made him this way (film rights were purchased by TriStar Pictures to be a vehicle for Bruce Willis, but the film was never made)
Now You See It, Now You Don't, a 1968 TV-movie about an art expert who is hired by an insurance company to protect a Rembrandt on loan from the Louvre and later hatches a scheme to steal it