Crime Writer Margot Kinberg

Not long ago, I did a post about con artists and grifters in crime fiction. Interestingly enough (and not planned!), all of the examples I mentioned were male. Well, never let it be said that I am sexist. There are also plenty of female con artists in crime fiction. Thanks to some very helpful commenters (thank you, Cath, Marina Sofia, and FictionFan!), I decided to take a look at a few of them.

In Agatha Christie’s short story Double Sin, Hercule Poirot and Captain Hastings are taking a bus trip for a holiday in north Devon. One of the fellow passengers, Mary Durrant, gets to talking with them, and she tells them that she is entrusted with an important task. Her aunt owns an antique shop and has asked her to take a case of valuable miniatures to J. Baker Wood, an American buyer who’s staying in Devon. When the bus arrives, Mary tells Poirot and Hastings that the case she carrying the miniatures has been opened and the miniatures are gone. She asks Poirot to investigate, and he agrees. Strangely, when he and Hastings contact Wood, he says that he bought the miniatures and already handed over the money. It looks like a very complicated case, and Poirot will have to uncover several secrets. Without giving too much away, I can say that a female con artist plays a role in the story. I know, Poirot fans; you could also argue that Countess Vera Rossakoff might very well be considered a con artist, too.

James M. Cain’s Double Indemnity introduces us to insurance representative Walter Huff. He’s in Hollywoodland one day when he decides to visit one of his clients, H.R. Nirdlinger, to ask for a policy renewal. Nirdlinger isn’t at home at the time, but his wife Phyllis is. She and Huff start talking, and before he knows it, Huff is attracted to her. She does nothing to discourage him, and they’re soon having an affair. But Phyllis has an ulterior motive. She wants to benefit from her husband’s life insurance policy, and she wants Huff to be her partner in crime. By the time she broaches the topic, he’s already so besotted that he falls in with her plan. He writes the double indemnity police that she wants and even goes along with the idea of killing her husband. Everything goes according to plan, but once Huff really sees what he’s done, things begin to spiral out of control. It’s the tragic end to what starts as a passionate affair.

In Caroline Graham’s A Ghost in the Machine, we meet a self-styled medium called Ava Garrett. She’s gotten quite a following, and many people believe what she says. So, when financial consultant Dennis Brinkley is killed in what’s call an accident, his friend Benny Frayle attends a séance led by Ava so she can find out what happened. Oddly enough, although Ava isn’t really psychic, she says some things about the killing that she couldn’t have known. Benny is convinced that Ava is genuine, so she goes immediately to the police, telling them that Brinkley was murdered. At first, Detective Chief Inspector (DCI) Tom Barnaby is not inclined to investigate, since he can tell from the police reports that the death was handled professionally and correctly. But, when Ava herself dies of what turns out to be poison, Barnaby knows that something more is going on.

Julie Clark’s The Last Flight tells the story of two women: Claire Cook and Eva James. One day, they meet at an airport. Claire is leaving her husband and planning to flee to Puerto Rico. Eva is flying back to her home in San Francisco. Claire has learned that her husband knows where she’s going, and Eva doesn’t want to go back to San Francisco. So, the two women switch identities, and each takes the other’s flight. When Claire lands in San Francisco, she learns that the flight to Puerto Rico crashed, presumably killing all the passengers. To protect herself, Claire decides to adopt Eva’s life. It’s not long before she finds that Eva had her own agenda and was involved in several dangerous games. Claire will have to find a way to navigate the things Eva was involved in if she’s to start her new life.

And then there’s Ben Sanders’ The Stakes. Miles Keller is a New York cop who’s been padding his retirement fund by robbing criminals. He’s living on borrowed time, though, because he’s already under investigation. Then, he gets another jolt. Nina Stone has come back to town after a five-year absence. Miles investigated her for a bank robbery, but for his own reasons, covered for her. Now she’s turned up again, and this time, she has an irresistible offer that could make him very rich. She’s also playing her own game, though. Besides getting a lot of money, she very much wants to be free of her husband Charles, and he wants her back just as much. So hs sent one of his men to bring her back – the cousin of someone Keller once shot. Keller has to decide if he’s going to go along with Nina’s plan and risk his life.

There are plenty of other women in crime fiction who turn out to be con artists and grifters. I didn’t mention some of them because this is a spoiler-free zone. But they’re out there.

*NOTE: The title of this post is a line from Hall and Oates’ Maneater.