Seven books about talented criminals and con artists

Jesse DeRoy lives in New York with their family. DeRoy is a former consultant, rock-climbing instructor, and award-winning journalist.

Safecracker is DeRoy's first novel.

At CrimeReads the author tagged seven titles about literature's greatest thieves: talented criminals and con artists that provided inspiration for writing their novel. One title on the list:

David W. Maurer’s The Big Con

Maurer was a professor of linguistics, and even though the book was published in 1940 and is, in some ways, a historical artifact, Maurer’s attention to language means the book still feels alive today. Sure, grifters are running versions of the same cons in 2024 as they were in 1924, but Maurer spent years cultivating sources within the community of swindlers so that he got inside access. Much of the charm of The Big Con is when Maurer’s cast of characters explain moves like the “cackle-bladder” or how to “sew a man up,” but there’s also something delightfully entertaining about having con men let you behind the curtain.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue