Ladystinger
From AwardAnnals
| Author(s) | Craig Smith |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Crown |
| Honors | |
| Introducing a new master of the con-game story—this time out with a most roguish twist indeed. Ladystinger presents us with a mistress of the scam, but this prettiest grifter of them all may get herself double-looped by her own chicanery. Here is a tightly paced thriller about forty-eight fateful hours in the life of a very appealing and very resourceful con woman, who plies her trade in hotel bars among the unsuspecting marks of New Orleans and Jamaica. Maggie Rohrer makes her living picking up wealthy businessmen, doping their drinks, and later… | |
Introducing a new master of the con-game story—this time out with a most roguish twist indeed. Ladystinger presents us with a mistress of the scam, but this prettiest grifter of them all may get herself double-looped by her own chicanery. Here is a tightly paced thriller about forty-eight fateful hours in the life of a very appealing and very resourceful con woman, who plies her trade in hotel bars among the unsuspecting marks of New Orleans and Jamaica.
Maggie Rohrer makes her living picking up wealthy businessmen, doping their drinks, and later robbing the unconscious victims in their rooms. It’s risk-free work, since these guys are usually very married, very embarrassed, and very unlikely to report the crime. And if they do, so what? Maggie’s long gone. A profitable hustle, yes, but with a down side. First, because Maggie’s not as hard-bitten as she likes to think, and second, because she’s hooked up with Barry, the sleazy mentor who keeps her bound to a life she would just as soon escape. One night in New Orleans, the opportunity arises. A would-be mark gets the drop on her and lures Maggie into ditching Barry—soon she’s abetting this mysterious stranger in a lucrative scam of his own. But when the con takes a sudden violent twist in a splashy Jamaican resort, Maggie is plunged into escalating danger.
As the tension mounts, she begins to wonder: Can you fall in love with someone you can’t trust? Smart, hard-edged, and unpredictable, Ladystinger is an electrifying novel in the special tradition of Jim Thompson, David Goodis, and Elmore Leonard.
