City of Scoundrels

September 23, 2019
Thompson’s fascinating third Counterfeit Lady novel (after 2018’s City of Secrets) plays out against a backdrop of paranoia unleashed by WWI and the devastating onset of the 1918 flu pandemic. Thomas Preston, a soldier about to embark for France, asks New York lawyer Gideon Bates to help him change his will to leave his interest in his family business, Preston Shoes, to his new wife, Rose. When Gideon later hears that Tom has been killed overseas, he calls on Rose, arriving just in time to save her from an attacker, but too late to keep the intruder from stealing the only legal copy of Tom’s revised will. Gideon can do little to prevent Tom’s older brother and his stepmother from inheriting Tom’s entire estate. Fortunately, Gideon’s fiancée, Elizabeth Miles, is the daughter of a con man and a talented grifter herself. To ensure Rose gets her inheritance, Elizabeth, her dad, and a reluctant Gideon execute an elaborate long con that plays on Fred’s unbridled greed. That they unearth a German spy ring in the process adds to the fun. Historical fans will appreciate Thompson’s spot-on depiction of the era. Agent: Nancy Yost, Nancy Yost Literary.