Villainy of the Old School

They won just one medal at the Torino Olympics and the shipping company P&O, which once held the Empire together, has been sold to an Arab sheikdom, but the British still lead the world in heists. Since the Great Train Robbery in 1963, a succession of raids — each seemingly larger than the last — has provided a stream of ripping yarns for crime writers. Last week's entry into the genre, which may have netted 40 million ($70 million) or even more — the precise figure has not been revealed — will doubtless spawn its own literary offspring. It's certainly got...