Gathered together within the pages of this book is a roguish array of
artful tricksters, fantastic fakers, rascally fraudsters and cunning
conmen. They all bend the rules and usually the law. Yet however
reprehensible their misdeeds, these thoroughly rotten scoundrels often
display the very essence of enterprise and adventure.
It would be wrong to condone their antics, of course, but it is
difficult not to admire their artifice. After all, this sort of raffish
crime has spawned scores of anti-heroes in books, movies and TV series.
But the stories told here are all true - among the most
barely-believable dodgy misdeeds of the past two centuries.
Powerful motives drive this book's extraordinary characters as they
rampage on the wrong side of the law. Greed is the most usual, ambition
is another, lust sometimes plays a compelling part. But many are
compelled by no other cause than a perverted sense of adventure. It is
these various forces that link the disparate bunch of characters in this
fascinating catalogue of crime.
If, as the saying goes, 'the Devil has the best tunes', he certainly
also has some of the best stories - and here are some of the most
startling case histories. Together they're the diabolically fiendish
work of History's Most Daring Rogues and Villains.
