Ladystinger

by Craig Smith

Introducing a new master of the con-game story - this time out with a most roguish twist indeed. Ladystinger presents us with a mistress of the scam, but this prettiest grifter of them all may get herself double-looped by her own chicanery. Here is a tightly paced thriller about forty-eight fateful hours in the life of a very appealing and very resourceful con woman, who plies her trade in hotel bars among the unsuspecting marks of New Orleans and Jamaica. Maggie Rohrer makes her living picking up wealthy businessmen, doping their drinks, and later robbing the unconscious victims in their rooms. It's risk-free work, since these guys are usually very married, very embarrassed, and very unlikely to report the crime. And if they do, so what? Maggie's long gone. A profitable hustle, yes, but with a down side. First, because Maggie's not as hard-bitten as she likes to think, and second, because she's hooked up with Barry, the sleazy mentor who keeps her bound to a life she would just as soon escape. One night in New Orleans, the opportunity arises. A would-be mark gets the drop on her and lures Maggie into ditching Barry - soon she's abetting this mysterious stranger in a lucrative scam of his own. But when the con takes a sudden violent twist in a splashy Jamaican resort, Maggie is plunged into escalating danger. As the tension mounts, she begins to wonder: Can you fall in love with someone you can't trust? Smart, hard-edged, and unpredictable, Ladystinger is an electrifying novel in the special tradition of Jim Thompson, David Goodis, and Elmore Leonard.

Paperback

First published September 1, 1992

About the author

Craig Bradford Smith was the screenwriter for three crime films made between 1996 and 2002. Nominated for an Edgar in 1993 as Best First Novel for Ladystinger.

Reviews

[Frank Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book, great story, plenty of twists and turns and is fully believable. Sadly was the only book this author ever wrote, which makes me think....
Someone writes a really good book about spies, espionage and double dealing with scammers based at the international and local levels and is supposedly named Craig "Smith"....
Now I am a Smith myself and maybe I am reading too much into it, but makes you wonder....
Anyway first got into this book years after seeing the TV movie it was based on, the movie was called "Scam", it came out in 1993 and starred Christopher Walken and is one of my best ever, in fact I'd say is probably one of the very few films ever, which really do the book justice, well wroth the watch.

[Bookend McGee · Rating 4 out of 5]

A gripping page-turner. It got off-putting and too much in terms of violence near the end though. But he's a clever writer and doesn't over or underwrite, everything and everyone was believable, I was totally immersed in the book, had no idea how it was going to end. Maggie Rohrer was a great and sympathetic character and I totally bought her abandonment wound which would keep going off around the non trustworthy Jack Shanks. The first chapter was terrific, written from the POV of Maggie's first mark whom we never hear from again, but who sets up the novel wonderfully. I wonder how Craig Smith knows so much underhanded con stuff - I just recently saw the movie Argylle - haha. Would love to know more about Craig Smith. What were the movies he wrote (apart from the screenplay of this)?