Ladystinger

by Craig Smith

“A TOP-NOTCH, IMMACULATELY WRITTEN TALE OF DECEPTION AND INTRIGUE … Nonstop action and plot twists aplenty." Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Beautiful young grifter Maggie Rohrer picks up rich businessmen in dark hotel bars, drugs their drinks, then lures them back to their rooms and robs them once they’ve passed out. It’s a lucrative con, until one night in New Orleans when a mark tricks her, forcing her into a dangerous swindle in Jamaica that could either bankroll a new life outside of the game…or get her killed.

An Edgar Award Finalist for Best First Mystery
Adapted into the movie Scam starring Christopher Walken & Lorraine Bracco.

“Compulsive reading. . . a riveting conclusion of the white-knuckle kind.” Boston Sunday Globe

“Add some well-drawn, vicious villains with no redeeming qualities, a colorful Jamaican setting, then mix with a chilling, violent denouement for a recipe for success.” Los Angeles Daily News

“A tightly-crafted thriller.” Playboy

“An expert debut . . . a tough thriller in the Jim Thompson roman noir tradition." Los Angeles Times

283 pages, Kindle Edition

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)?