The caper story is a subgenre of crime fiction in which one or more crimes, especially thefts, swindles or occasionally kidnappings, are carried out by the main characters in full view of the reader, while any police or detectives who pursue the crime are treated as secondary to the story. It is distinguished from a straight crime story by elements of humor, adventure or unusual cleverness, with the criminals marked by comic idiosyncrasies and law enforcement often characterized by ineptitude. Donald E. Westlake's Dortmunder novels, in which a gang of offbeat characters carries out unusual, elaborately planned thefts, are a classic example of the type, and a caper can also appear as a subplot within a larger work, as with Tom Sawyer's scheme to free Jim near the end of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Facts
Notable ExampleThe Dortmunder series (from 1970) by Donald E. Westlake, comic capers involving a gang of offbeat characters 1 Defining TraitDistinguished from the straight crime story by humor, adventure or unusual cleverness, with crimes carried out by the main characters in full view of the reader 1 Connections
Sources
1. Wikipedia
WikipediaWikipedia: Caper story, lead section, Dortmunder example
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.
Wikipedia: Caper story, lead section, definition
The caper story is distinguished from the straight crime story by elements of humor, adventure, or unusual cleverness or audacity.
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