cover image Black Dogs: The Possibly True Story of Classic Rock’s Greatest Robbery

Black Dogs: The Possibly True Story of Classic Rock’s Greatest Robbery

Jason Buhrmester, . . Three Rivers, $13.95 (241pp) ISBN 978-0-307-45181-1

Rock ’n’ roll fans will best appreciate Buhrmester’s debut, an average crime novel based on a real-life robbery—the theft in 1973 of $203,000 from a safe-deposit box in New York City’s Drake Hotel containing Led Zeppelin’s earnings from a recent concert series. The subtitle is a bit of a tease, as it becomes clear how unlikely a bunch of losers could plan to rip off a popular band and manage to do so by dumb luck. Patrick Sullivan, a 19-year-old scam artist who specializes in break-ins, returns home to Baltimore to round up a crew hoping to make a big score by stealing Led Zeppelin’s proceeds. The bulk of the book recounts their misadventures, complete with run-ins with the Holy Ghosts, a Christian motorcycle gang. The breezy writing will carry some along, but many will wonder if the plot might’ve been better served if Buhrmester, the current editor of Inked , hadn’t relied on a factual foundation. (May)