Parlor Games (1869)

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A sweeping historical novel about a beautiful con artist whose turn-of-the-century escapades take her around the world as she's doggedly pursued by a Pinkerton Agency detective The novel opens in 1917 with our cunning protagonist, May Dugas, standing trial for extortion. As the trial unfolds, May tells her version of events. In 1887, at the tender age of eighteen, May ventures to Chicago in hopes of earning enough money to support her family. Circumstances force her to take up residence at the city's most infamous bordello, but May soon learns to employ her considerable feminine wiles to extract not only sidelong looks but also large sums of money from the men she encounters. Insinuating herself into Chicago's high society, May lands a well-to-do fiancé--until, that is, a Pinkerton Agency detective named Reed Doherty intervenes and summarily foils the engagement. Unflappable May quickly rebounds, elevating seduction and social climbing to an