The Pickpocket and the Thief: Stolen Treasures, #0

By Susie Dinneen

There's no place like home. But how far would you go to find it?

 

Cairo hates living with the Mulch family, but she's only eleven and has nowhere else to go. Forced into a life of stealing, she's desperate to find her real parents and ask them why she was left in a trunk when she was a baby. 

 

When she meets Mel, a petty thief, Cairo realises that she might be able to discover the truth about her past. But as she gets closer to solving the puzzle, she learns that her choices come with a price – a price she might not be able to pay. 

 

The Pickpocket and the Thief is a short story in the Stolen Treasures middle-grade series. If you like timeless adventures, brave heroines, lying auctioneers, tall tales and quirky humor, you'll love this introduction to Susie Dinneen's enchanting series. 

 

Start reading The Pickpocket and the Thief today for an adventure that you won't want to end.

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Susie Dinneen
• Release date: Mar 5, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224408696

Susie Dinneen

Before Susie Dinneen became a writer, she was a reader, and before that she was a dreamer. Now she’s all of those things. She catches stories that flit and float through the air, which is what she’s really doing when it looks like she’s daydreaming (although sometimes she’s just daydreaming). Her first published book is Nombulelo and the Moth, a picture book for 4 to 8 year olds. It’s about love and being brave, even when there are leopards in the forest.  She’s currently working on the Stolen Treasures series of adventures for 9 to twelve year olds. The prequel short story, The Pickpocket and the Thief, is available for free on her website. The first Stolen Treasures novel is The Trunk of Stars.  She lives in Johannesburg, South Africa, with her husband, who’s a musician, and their cat, who pushes books off tables. One day she’ll have a library with a very comfy chair in it. She works as a creative director in a digital agency to fund her book habit. You can find her online at www.susiedinneen.com.

Book preview

It was market day, and the town square pulsed with people. Cairo eyed the ones in a hurry—they were usually the easiest.

Stalls lined the edges of the square and circled the fountain at its center. In front of a table adorned with jewel-bright berries and lemons, Sammy and Jojo were shoving each other. He was supposed to be teaching her how to steal apples, but it looked like they had found a better game.

Gran bent down in front of Cairo. Her little gray curls smelled of lavender and her pearly lipstick perfectly followed the soft curves of her lips. You’ve got brains between your ears, not like those brats. She nodded towards Jojo, who was now climbing onto the fountain. Sammy tried to grab his sister’s ankles and she shrieked as she ran around the fountain’s ledge to escape him.

Cairo felt bad that Gran was being mean about the other kids but she was being kind to her. It was a tiny spark of happiness inside her.

Gran put her hand on Cairo’s shoulder. Now, there are lots of idiots who are ready to lose their nice things. You and your clever little fingers go and do what you do best. She gave her a shove into the crowd.

Cairo did what Gran had been teaching her. She imagined herself shrinking down and down inside her clothes. She flowed through the crowd, like a small leaf on the surface of a river. Nobody noticed her. She watched, staying invisible.

She found a quiet corner where she could scout out the good targets. She watched Aunt Griselda march over to the fountain and smack Sammy and Jojo off it.

Then she noticed another girl working the market. The girl went after the easy prey: old people, distracted people. It wasn’t the smartest way to work, but she was good enough at it.

Cairo always chose her targets carefully, like Gran had taught her. Get the best bang for your buck, she often said. Don’t waste your time stealing something cheap.

Cairo saw a young woman with a pretty hat, her handbag dangling off her arm. Cairo approached her and asked for directions, lifting a purse out the woman’s bag in seconds.

When the woman wandered away, laughing with her friends, Cairo scanned the crowd. She didn’t see the other pickpocket, which was a relief. Another thief, especially one who wasn’t that skilled, made it riskier for