Lana Harper is the
New York Times bestselling author of
Payback's a Witch and the rest of the Witches of Thistle Grove series. Writing
as Lana Popovic, she is also the author of YA novels
Wicked Like a Wildfire,
Fierce Like a Firestorm,
Blood Countess, and
Poison Priestess. Harper was born in Serbia and lived in Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania before moving to the United States, where she now lives in Naperville, Illinois, with her family. Jilly Gagnon is the author of eight novels, most recently
What if it's You? Her humor writing, personal essays, and op-eds have appeared in
Newsweek,
Elle,
Vanity Fair,
Boston Magazine, and
McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, among others. She lives in Salem, Massachusetts, with her family and two black cats.
Harper and Gagnon's new mystery is
Cards on the Table.
At
CrimeReads the authors tagged five "delightful stories of grifters, tricksters, and cons," including:
Frank Abagnale, Catch Me If You Can
It’s impossible to pull together a list of ultimate con artist stories without a hat tip to Frank Abagnale’s memoir of his 
years-long series of scams, forgeries, and international run-ins with the law. The ultimate charismatic con, Abagnale pulled off his many heists with breathtaking chutzpah, earning millions from check forgeries, passing himself off variously as a hospital supervisor, an attorney, a college professor, and a PanAm pilot—committing so fully to the bit that he actually co-piloted a commercial plane. Perhaps most impressive of all, he claims to have managed all these feats before he even reached his twenty-first birthday.
As charming a writer as he must have been when practicing his first “art,” Abagnale’s memoir reads like fiction…and some of it might be (after all, he was in the business of fakery for years). Honestly, though, does it really matter? Whether or not every heist he describes is fully “true,” the story is unputdownable.
Read about
the other entries on the list at CrimeReads.
--Marshal Zeringue
developer and has published several cookbooks.
much of Margo’s life, now that he’s made the decision to be a part of it, he’s unwavering. And while his fatherly advice is, well, unconventional (and usually of the wrestling variety), it lands because he isn’t dispensing from some father-of-the-year handbook, he’s always talking to Margo. And he always shows up in Margo’s corner, supporting her with choices that would be cause for coronaries among most fathers. Jinx proves you don’t have to be perfect, moneyed, or so-called educated to be an ideal father and grandfather, and that even when it feels like the final bell has rung, there’s still time to show up.
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