swindlers and swindling

"When Lane Coolman's car is bashed from behind on the road to the Florida Keys, what appears to be an innocent accident is anything but (this is Hiaasen!). Behind the wheel of the offending car is Merry Mansfield--the eponymous Razor Girl--so named for her unique, eye-popping addition to what might be an otherwise unexciting scam. But, of course--this is Hiaasen!--the scam is only the very beginning of a situation that's going to spiral crazily out of control while gathering in some of the wildest characters Hiaasen has ever set loose on the page. There's the owner of Sedimental Journey--the company that steals sand from one beach to restore erosion on another...Dominick "Big Noogie" Aeola, the NYC mafia capo with a taste for the pinkest of sands...Zeto, the small-time hustler who gets electrocuted trying to charge a Tesla...Nance Buck, native Wisconsinite who's nonetheless the star of the red neck reality TV show, "Bayou Brethren"...a psycho who goes by the name of Blister and who's more Nance Buck than Buck could ever be...the multimillionaire product liability lawyer who's getting dangerously--and deformingly--hooked on the very product he's litigating against...and Andrew Yancy--formerly Detective Yancy, busted to Key West roach patrol after he beat up his then-lover's husband with a Dustbuster--who's convinced that if he can just solve one more murder on his own, he'll get his detective badge back. That the Razor Girl may be the key to his success in this deeply ill-considered endeavor will be as surprising to him as anything else he encounters along the way--including the nine-pound Gambian pouched rats getting very used to the good life in the Keys..."--Provided by publisher.

Journalist Brian Ross presents a behind-the-scenes look at the lavish lifestyle enjoyed by financier Bernie Madoff and his wife prior to his conviction on charges of investment fraud, and details the extent of Madoff's scheme which devastated his victims, leaving many without savings and homes.

Rescued from the gallows in 1850s London, young orphan and thief Mary Quinn is offered a place at Miss Scrimshaw's Academy for Girls where she is trained to be part of an all-female investigative unit called The Agency and, at age seventeen, she infiltrates a rich merchant's home in hopes of tracing his missing cargo ships.

A teenage girl from a family of Wanderers must choose between the hustling, rambling way of life she has always known and the townie boy for whom she falls.

"Just when Skip O'Rourke thinks he's finally free of his con-artist family, they drag him back to Long Island for one last scam...but nothing about this con is what it seems"--.

"There's a mystery in the city of Zootopia! Can rookie police officer Judy Hopps crack the case with the help of a fast-talking, con artist fox named Nick Wilde?"--Back cover.

"Basketball-crazy Jake Burnett is thrilled to be leaving home to attend prestigious Centerville Prep. It's an opportunity to pursue his hoop dreams at the highest level. But things aren't quite as advertised at his new school, and Jake soon finds himself struggling both on and off the court. At first, Jake is determined to play harder and ignore the warning signs. Until he discovers that his new head coach is a scam artist, putting kids at risk for his own gain. Now Jake has a difficult choice to make--advance his basketball career or do the right thing"--Amazon.com.

When Grace Fontaine leaves her "father" in Seattle, where he is working another con, and returns to Playa Hermosa, she receives help from unexpected sources in her quest to find information about Cormac and Renee that she can trade for her adopted brother Parker's freedom.

While visiting an elderly, eccentric great-aunt in Ohio, eighteen-year-old Elsie is courted by a young man who has been sent by her uncle Arthur to win not only her hand, but her fortune as well.

After her supposed best friend implicates her in a cheating and blackmail scam, twelve-year-old Bernie loses her private school scholarship but, with the help of a new friend, spends the summer using her knowledge of magic and sleight-of-hand both to earn the $9,000 in tuition money and to get revenge.