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14 of Your Favorite Everyday Criminal Stories

María Cristina García lives in New York with her favorite spouse, her favorite toddler, her favorite cat, and her second-favorite cat. When not ranking members of her household, she's catching up on Supergirl, strumming her mandolin, or trying to beat the clock on her library loans. Twitter: @MeowyCristina Blog: MeowyCristina.com

This Riot Recommendation asking for the best everyday criminal stories is sponsored by Alfred A. Knopf, publisher of Cherry by Nico Walker.

Hammered out on a typewriter, Cherry is a breakneck-paced debut novel about love, war, bank robberies, and heroin.

Cleveland, 2003. A young man falls hard in love and gets married—just before flunking out of school and joining the Army. But he’s unprepared for the grisly reality that awaits him as an Army medic. When he returns from Iraq, his PTSD is profound, and the drugs on the street have changed. Hooked on heroin, desperate for a normal life, and running low on cash, he turns to the one thing he thinks he could be really good at—robbing banks.


Things that are not universally true about criminals:

-are masterminds

-have henchpeople

-stroke cats while plotting

Here are some of your recommendations for stories about everyday criminals!

The Misfortune of Marion Palm by Emily Culliton

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

The Little Old Lady Who Broke All the Rules by Catharina Ingelman-Sundberg

The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner

Catch Me If You Can by Frank W. Abagnale

The Hidden Keys by Andre Alexis

Ballad of the Whiskey Robber by Julian Rubinstein

If I Die Tonight by Alison Gaylin

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

A Double Life by Flynn Berry

The Lonely Witness by William Boyle

Addie Pray by Joe David Brown