My wife and I have been watching the British show “Hustle” via Netflix and we’re enjoying it greatly. Now I’m wondering if there’s anything like this in book form. I’ve read plenty of books where the bad guys are the main characters (the Dortmunder books are a favorite), so is there anything out there about con-men?
There’s The Sting, of course. One book I liked is an older one called Not A Penny More, Not A Penny Less, by Jeffrey Archer. Those are the only ones I can think of off the top of my head, but if you like a good con story, I’d also recommend seeing the movie Diggstown, with James Woods and Louis Gossett, Jr. (The book STUNK, but the movie is really good.)
The Grifters - original book by Jim Thompson; later made into a movie with a script by Donald Westlake.
The Big Con is a non-fiction work that provided a lot of source material for the The Sting. Written by a linguistics professor who was studying the argot of con-men (“You gotta rope a mark, show him the best of it, play him against the store and then cool him off with a cackle-bladder so he won’t beef gun”) it’s gives a breakdown of the old-style big store cons, a brief history of the con-game, a little insight into what it takes to be a con-man and is generally an excellent insight into much romanticized underworld.
I remember reading Harry Harrison, the Stainless Steel rat books, way back. They were fun and the anti hero is a futuristic conman.
Oh yeah, the Rat book. I read those a while back and enjoyed them. I forgot about those.
I should have thought of “The Grifters” too.
The Flim-Flam Man was a very good book and an OK movie starring George C. Scott and I believe Michael Sarazan.
Stephen J Cannell, “King Con” was a good book about a family of con artists. According to the Amazon site, Cannell is planning on making it into a movie with John Travolta.
Thanks for that link! One of my future books is going to deal with my character going after a con man or men, and although I know quite a bit just reading online, I love reading a good book on the subject. I also found How To Become A Professional Con Artist with Amazon’s recommendation program.