A worthy follow to the Paris Architect

HOUSE OF THIEVES Charles Belfoure Sourcebook Landmark

Charles Belfoure’s first book was The Paris Architect, a lauded novel about an architect in 1942 Paris who is paid to design a secret place for a wealthy Jewish man hiding from the Nazis to save his own life. In House of Thieves, high-society architect John Cross, who lives in New York in 1886, is forced to join a criminal gang and plan robberies of buildings he has designed in order to pay off his son’s gambling debts.

Cross uses his inside information about both the mansions and the museums he has designed and his knowledge of his high-society friends and their vacation plans to plan lucrative robberies.

Belfoure is an architect himself, with a specialty in historic preservation, so he knows his subject. The descriptions of buildings in the New York of the day are captivating on their own, but it is the sordid tale of the Cross family that will keep readers engaged in this novel.

There’s George Cross, the gambling son, who has just graduated from Harvard and was captain of the school’s baseball team. He’s handsome and intelligent, but he has a fatal flaw: He’s hopelessly addicted to high-stakes gambling.

George’s sister is Julia, a young debutante with a taste for roguish men, and his youngest brother is Charlie, a bored young boy who finds fun and friendship on the street. Helen is John’s wife and the children’s mother. They’re all related to the Astors, the wealthiest New York society family.

Belfoure develops all of the characters in this novel and gives readers an insider’s view into wealthy society in New York just before the 20th century. This seemingly respectable family has more than one dark side and Belfoure reveals it all as the book unfolds. Even stodgy grandma shows her true colours when she gets out on the town with Julia.

Beyond the well-paced plot, House of Thieves is a captivating look at New York City in the late 1800s. There’s a good look at the Statue of Liberty when it was first unveiled, comparing it to the Colossus of Rhodes. There are fascinating glimpses of the stratification of society, with the battles between the Knickerbockers — the old, established families of New York — and the nouveau riche.

The Paris Architect was a finalist for the 2015 International Dublin Literary Award and an American Booksellers Association Indie Pick, a New York Post Must Read Book and a USA Today New Voices selection.

I’m sure House of Thieves will get similar accolades.