Book Title: The Gentleman Thief Steals a Blanket by Mark Nutter
Category: Adult Fiction (18 +), 296 pages
Genre: Humorous Fiction
Publisher: BookBaby
Release date: June 2025
Content Rating: PG-13: Some language and a non-explicit post-coital scene
Frustrated novelist Danny is resigned to writing material for trade shows, promoting garage doors and non-stick cookware. His ex-wife threatens legal action for non-payment of alimony. Danny never dreamed the answer to his troubles could be larceny.
But then wealthy, charming Packard Hale III reenters his life. He was Danny's college roommate, and like Lupin and Raffles, he now fancies himself a gentleman thief. Packard hires Danny to write about his capers.
Danny follows Packard as they break into a mansion and steal, among other things, a priceless Chinese vase and a curiously valuable souvenir blanket from Branson, Missouri. However, it's not Packard who is pursued by the police, but Danny.
Simultaneously, he struggles to please his client, a lawn-and-garden CEO with an erotic attraction to lawnmowers. Danny also endures abuse from Soren, a boozy has-been Vegas magician. He tolerates the mistreatment because of Crystal, the magician's assistant. He's falling for her.
When he learns Soren screwed Crystal out of rights to magic tricks she's created -- and in spite of the cops on his tail -- Danny plots revenge. He and Packard attempt the daring theft of a state-of-the-art lawnmower—during a live performance in front of 400 people.
MARK NUTTER grew up in a motel near Joliet, Illinois, which is not as glamorous as it sounds. He's the author of the humorous heist novel The Gentleman Thief Steals a Blanket. He wrote three collections of comedic short stories: Giant Banana Over Texas, Dancer on the Ceiling, and Sunset Cruise on the River Styx. He won the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award and the LA Weekly Theater Award for the music & lyrics for Reanimator the Musical. Mark also wrote for television (SNL, 3rd Rock from the Sun) and feature film (Almost Heroes). www.marknutter.com.
Interview
with Mark Nutter, author of The Gentleman Thief Steals a Blanket
1. What literary pilgrimages have you gone on?In
London, on his birthday, visited the home of P.G. Wodehouse. Took the Ian
Fleming literary tour and saw where he ate, drank, had his hair cut, and bought
his cigarettes.
2. What is the first book that made you cry?A
tie: “Side Effects” by Woody Allen, and “Catch-22” by Joseph Heller. Tears of
laughter.
3. Does writing energize or exhaust you?Writing
mostly energizes me, when I laugh at what I’ve just written. If I’m exhausted,
I stop and do something else—read, walk, take a nap.
4. What is your writing Kryptonite?Research.
5. Did you ever consider writing under a
pseudonym?Yes. My novel and my short stories are humorous. If I ever wrote
something darker, I’d consider a pseudonym, the way Donald Westlake used
Richard Stark. I like the name Rodney Grand.
6. What other authors are you friends with, and
how do they help you become a better writer?Dennis Paoli, horror
screenwriter, Re-Animator, From Beyond. I learned a lot from him about how to
tell a story. (I wrote the music and lyrics for Re-Animator the Musical).
7. Do you want each book to stand on its own, or
are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book?I’d
like“The Gentleman Thief Steals a Blanket” to be the first in a series. I have
a draft of the second book,“The Gentleman Thief Buys a Toothbrush.”
8. What authors did you dislike at first but grew
into?At first, I found James Joyce too challenging. Then during lockdown, I
finished “Ulysses.” Now I agree with those who say it’s the funniest novel in
the English language.
9. What’s your favorite under-appreciated novel?I
don’t think it’s underappreciated, but its style may not currently be in favor.
“The Three Coffins” by John Dickson Carr is an outrageous example of a Golden
Age impossible crime novel. Jaw-dropping and wonderful in its invention.
10. As a writer, what would you choose as your
mascot/avatar/spirit animal?Chico Marx.
11. How many unpublished and half-finished books
do you have?Three unfinished novels. Thirteen unproduced screenplays.
12. What did you edit out of this book?Explicit sex.
13. If you didn’t write, what would you do for
work?I used to earn a living as a piano player for improv comedy groups,
Second City and others. I’d probably do that again.
14. Do you hide any secrets in your books that
only a few people will find?I can’t tell you. They’re secrets.
15. What is your favorite childhood book?“Alice’s
Adventures in Wonderland.”
connect with the author: website ~ facebook ~ bookbub ~ goodreads
Im looking forward to checking this book out. Thanks for sharing.
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