City of Schemes
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
Elizabeth Miles is preparing for her wedding to Gideon Bates, when a menacing shadow from her past threatens to destroy the life she has built for herself in this all-new Counterfeit Lady Novel from USA Today bestselling author Victoria Thompson.
The Great War is over, and Elizabeth and Gideon are busily planning their wedding and welcoming home old friends now discharged from the army. One of them, Captain Logan Carstens, the son and heir of a wealthy family, seems less than happy to be home and with good reason. While Logan was in France, he fell in love with a beautiful French woman named Noelle. He desperately wanted to propose, but he was already engaged and felt bound to honor his commitment.
When Logan receives a letter supposedly from Noelle begging for money to help her flee the terrible conditions in France and come to America, Elizabeth is suspicious. There is no way to verify the letter is actually from Noelle, and she fears that a con man or woman might be trying to take advantage of Logan in his vulnerable state.
But that is not all Elizabeth has to worry about. Vicious thug Oscar Thornton has gotten wind of her wedding announcement and realizes the woman who conned him is still alive and well. Gideon and Elizabeth have to figure out a way to help their friend while making sure their worst enemy does not destroy their future. . . .
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Set in post-WWI New York City, Thompson's cleverly plotted fourth Counterfeit Lady novel (after 2019's City of Scoundrels) finds Elizabeth Miles, an endearingly charismatic con artist, about to marry lawyer Gideon Bates, but she's fearful that news of the wedding might reach nasty businessman Oscar Thornton, who once sought to kill her but who now thinks Elizabeth is dead after she faked her own death. Despite Elizabeth's best efforts to keep the event quiet, word of her impending wedding does reach Oscar, who approaches Gideon and demands that Elizabeth repay the $250,000 she cheated him out of in an earlier book. Since she doesn't have the cash, Elizabeth must devise a new, intricate scam to get out of the bind she's in. Thompson enhances the caper plotline by having the real-life American Protective League, an anti-immigrant group that disbanded after the armistice in 1918, spawn a fictional successor group that hunts down Americans who aren't sufficiently loyal to their country. Fans of classic grifter stories, such as The Sting, will be pleased.
