Wicked Wednesday- Prose and Cons

Jessie: Glad each day that the weather is warming!

I have to confess, I do love con artist stories. I love them so much that the protagonist in my Change of Fortune series is one! Have you ever written about either a con artist or someone who has been conned?

Julie: I’ve been working on a book about three women in their fifties who help people get revenge, and cons are the center of the story. Cons within cons. They are so hard to write! How can you help unpack the con for the reader so that they are surprised by some of the twists? What’s the true purpose behind the con? And how do you con a con artist? Needless to say, it’s making this book hard to write, but a lot of fun. Hopefully I can pull it off, and send it out.

Edith/Maddie: I love that premise, Julie. My story, “Blue Motel Room” in Beat of Black Wings (edited by Josh Pachter) features a con artist of the Robin Hood variety and was so much fun to write. The narrator in “One Too Many,” (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, March/April 2020) is also something of a con artist. I guess the message is – I like to write con artists in my short fiction!

Sherry: I love a could con story too. In my Sarah Winston Garage Sale mysteries one character is conning people over several books. And A Time to Swill has a con artist who meets his match with Chloe Jackson.

Liz: I haven’t written one but I would love to! I do love a good con artist. I need to think about that for a future book, for sure.

Barb: I love con artist stories. I just finished watching Inventing Anna and loved it. My novella “Scared Off” in Halloween Party Murder is a con artist story.

Jessie: I am so glad I’m not the only Wicked who loves this sort of story! As I mentioned in the opening, my Change of Fortune books feature a con artist. The book I just turned in to my editor, the second WPC Harkness mystery has some of that too. I think my 8th Beryl and Edwina may also. I am looking forward to it immensely!

Readers, do you love con artist stories?