An Artful Dodge

 An Artful Dodge-Karen Odden

Soho Crime

Release Date: June 2, 2026

Rating: 📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: London, 1879: Twenty-year-old Kit Jimeson has fingers so nimble she can nick a necklace off a lady in a crowded theater without raising alarm. Kit and her dodge partner, Mary, are the highest earners in the notorious all-women thieving ring in South London's Elephant and Castle district.

Kit, whose mother had been a thief before her, dreams of a different life, one where she’s not constantly on the lookout for constables and plainclothes detectives, and where a mistake or pure bad luck won't land her in the hangman’s noose. She has been saving up her earnings so her younger sister, a maid for a wealthy Mayfair family, might have a shot at respectability.

Kit is very close to leaving the life entirely when the legendary former thief Maggie O’Connell brings her plans to a halt. Beautiful, charismatic Maggie has returned to reclaim leadership of the ring after twenty years in a brutal Australian penal colony. But Maggie desires more than mere wealth. She longs for revenge against those who sent her away. Kit, with her quick mind and dangerously clever hands, is Maggie’s best weapon. If Kit wants to walk away with her life, she must carry out a heist that will demand every skill she possesses.

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London, 1879—not a great time to be poor. Kit works three jobs to make ends meet and two of them are legal. She constantly worries over money: what will happen to her sister if there isn't enough money? If she gets sick and they can't afford a doctor? If Kit can't earn enough to take care of them? She saves as much as possible, but can't bring herself to leave the all-women theiving ring she's a part of because, despite the risk, it brings in good money. The other women are more than friends, many are a second family to her. As clever as the tricks these women use are, we are never shown their crimes as glamourous or fun—they steal because they have to, from people and places that can afford to lose it.

Kit and the rest of the cast in An Artful Dodge are well-drawn and relatable. In similar situations, what would anyone do to survive, and protect a beloved family member? The gang members are loyal to each other in the face of danger and hardship, and that support is echoed by other members of the community. Even minor characters are written in a fully three-dimensional style—the reader can easily see them sitting around a pub's fireplace, telling stories and drinking after a hard day, and feel like you could almost join them for a round.

The pacing was fast and exciting throughout the book: as the danger to Kit increased, tension built and I couldn't wait to see what would happen and how she would get out of the danger Maggie was weaving around her. But one of the things that struck me was that even Maggie is never painted as a total villain. She does terrible things, but the reader (and even Kit to an extent) is able to understand her point of view. As much as loyalty and family are the backbone of this book, so is the question: what makes a monster? Can one ever turn back from a course of vengeance? Does one crime cause another, or do we have choices in life? Maggie believes in vengeance, that actions have consequences and she returns to England to make that happen. But Kit finds herself asking questions that easily can be asked in situations today: where should that circle of vengeance end?

As always, some of Karen Odden's most brilliant writing is in her depictions of Victorian London. From the Thames River to the streets of South London's Elephant and Castle district, to the fanciest jewelry shops of Holbourn, every inch of the city feels alive, as if you could walk it next to Kit. 

An Artful Dodge is a masterful Victorian mystery adventure that historical mystery readers will love!

I received an ARC of this book from Soho Crime and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review