Guest post by Hell To Pay author Lora Beth Johnson
Lora Beth Johnson: As an only child, Lora Beth Johnson grew up telling herself stories and reading past her bedtime. She spent her adulthood collecting degrees, careers, and stamps in her passport before realizing her passion for creating fictional worlds. When she’s not writing, she’s teaching college English and learning new languages. She lives in Edinburgh with her little roommate, Colocataire the Yorki-poo. Her previous books are Goddess in the Machine and Devil in the Device. Find Lora Beth on Twitter @LoraBethWrites and Instagram @Lorabethjohnson.
About Hell To Pay: Oceans Eight meets Six of Crows in this supernatural heist novel about a teenage con artist and her ragtag crew teaming up for their toughest job yet: stealing a soul from the Afterlife. Released July 28th 2026.
My favorite heist stories aren’t the ones where everything goes to plan. They’re the ones where the plan catches fire approximately five minutes in and a group of thieves with wildly incompatible skill sets has to somehow improvise their way to the prize and out of certain doom.
So, it’s no wonder that when I wrote my own heist, I didn’t set out to write the kind of sleek, meticulously executed job you see in Ocean’s Eleven or Mission Impossible. I wanted to write the kind of caper where every carefully constructed plan collides with magic, ego, and bad decisions. Hell to Pay is my love letter to exactly this kind of glorious criminal chaos, where the plan falls apart but the crew comes together. And if your favorite flavor of heist is fantasy, here are five stories that prove the best heists are often the messiest ones.
Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
If we’re talking about chaotic fantasy heists, there’s no avoiding Six of Crows. Kaz Brekker (absolute icon) always seems like he’s in complete control, but the real fun is watching what happens when he isn’t. His greatest strength isn’t planning for every possibility—though he definitely has schemes for days—it’s adapting when everything that can go wrong, does.
The Ice Court job is impossible from the start, and somehow the crew still manages to make it even more complicated. Because in addition to their individual skill sets, each member of the crew brings enough emotional baggage to fill a getaway tank. If your favorite heists are the ones where people who barely get along slowly become willing to risk everything for one another, this is the gold standard.
Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl (and Wes Anderson)
On paper, stealing chickens from three farmers shouldn’t require this much planning. In practice, it’s symmetrically-framed all-out war.
Mr. Fox has the confidence of someone who cannot accept their own fallibility, despite mounting evidence to the contrary. His increasingly ambitious schemes drag his reluctant family and friends into one disaster after another, and the result is a heist story that’s hilarious, yet heartfelt. What starts as a fox pulling one last job (or three) becomes a community looking out for one another. Like the best fantasy capers, success depends less on the original plan than on everyone’s willingness to work together.
Little Thieves by Margaret Owen
Technically, Little Thieves is more of a long con than a traditional heist, but the chaotic criminal energy is the same. After all, heists are just cons with lockpicks and an acrobat friend.
Vanja survives through wit, audacity, and stubbornness. The very qualities she’s been told are improper, unladylike, or selfish turn out to be exactly what she needs to survive. The cons are clever, the banter is sharp, and every victory feels earned because she’s constantly one terrible decision away from losing everything. And as the story unfolds, she slowly learns that even the best con artist can’t do everything alone.
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
Every member of this crew has fortes and foibles. Edgin can talk his way through anything, but makes impulsive decisions. Simon has incredible magical potential, but no self-confidence. Holga’s solution to most problems involves hitting them very hard, and to be fair, that often works.
Each character brings their questionable skills and tragic backstories to the table to create magic (in some cases literally). Their strengths cover each other’s weaknesses, every setback forces them to trust each other a little more, and by the end they’re less of a crew than a family.
The Princess Bride by William Goldman
Hear me out: The Princess Bride is a fantasy heist.
Think about it. There’s an impossible target: a princess locked inside a heavily guarded castle. A crew assembled with varying motivations and skill sets. Disguises. Infiltrations. Extractions. Escapes.
Like any great fantasy heist, the original plan barely survives contact with reality. Instead,
Westley, Inigo, Fezzik, and Buttercup improvise their way through increasingly absurd obstacles (including being mostly dead) with just enough competence and luck to pull it off, and discover that achieving the impossible takes a team. If that isn’t a heist, I don’t know what is.
