Cheats, Charlatans, and Chicanery: More Outrageous Tales of Skulduggery

by Andreas Schroeder

Since 1988, Andreas Schroeder has been a regular contributor to CBC-Radio’s “Basic Black,” entertaining listeners with outrageous – and always very funny – tales of daring scams and rip-offs. In Scams, Scandals, and Skulduggery (1996), he collected seventeen of the stories that received the greatest listener response.

Now, in Cheats, Charlatans, and Chicanery , he has done it again, collecting another seventeen of his best tales of knavish frauds and thefts, carried out by ingenious – and often lovable – rogues.

Stories

Getting Naked for Big Bucks : How a bevy of disgruntled writers got together to pen a steamy bestseller called Naked Came the Stranger .

The Man Who Bought Portugal : How Alves Reis planned to take over the Bank of Portugal – with its own money.

Stuff and Nonsense at the Ends of the Earth : How explorers Peary, Cook, and Byrd bluffed their way into the history books.

Impersonating Roger : How butcher’s son Arthur Orton became an unlikely celebrity in Victorian England as “The Tichborne Claimant.”

Once again, Andreas Schroeder tells his wonderfully wicked tales with the sly and deadpan humour that his many fans will recognize – and that new readers are sure to enjoy.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

280 pages, Paperback

First published April 19, 1997

About the author

As the “resident Scam-meister” on the popular CBC Radio show Basic Black, Andreas Schroeder spent twelve years reporting on ingenious frauds, swindles, and hoaxes that have been committed around the world. Though the radio show ended in 2002, Andreas’s fascination with the subject continued, culminating in the publication of Scams! (2004), stories of some of history’s greatest tricksters.

Aside from having had one of the world’s all-time greatest job titles, Andreas has been an avid reader all his life and a writer for most of it. Born to a German-speaking Mennonite family who emigrated from Poland to Canada in 1951 (when he was five), he lived for 10 years on a farm in B.C.’s Fraser Valley, where he avoided farm chores whenever possible in order to spend his time reading. As a boy he wrote poetry and short stories in both German and English. A move to Vancouver when he was 15 introduced him to his own brand of paradise: libraries (free books!), bookstores on every corner, and a burgeoning population of fellow writers. He has never looked back.

Andreas and his wife, Sharon, lived for many years on a mountaintop in Mission City, near the B.C.–Washington State border, in a round four-story tower they built themselves. Today they live by the ocean on the Sunshine Coast with their daughter, Vanessa. Another daughter, Sabrina, travels the world as a composer. True to the West Coast ethos, Andreas enjoys motorcycling, paragliding, and skiing—when he’s not reading or writing, which he is most of the time.

Andreas Schroeder has published more than 20 books. Scams!, part of Annick Press’s True Stories from the Edge series, is his first book for young adults. Thieves! (2005) features ten enduring stories about the cunning plans and daring capers of thieving criminals.

Reviews

[Carla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining and interesting read.

[Teresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Schroeder's books. They are always entertaining, interesting, and informative reads.