King Con: The Bizarre Adventures of the Jazz Age's Greatest Impostor

King Con is as engaging, ambitious, and colorful as its shady protagonist... Willetts has dug deep into newspaper archives and investigative files to accomplish what the authorities on two continents failed to do almost a century ago--unravel Laplante's trail of brazen fraud and deceit.
--Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine

In King Con, Paul Willetts tells the intricate story of Laplante's misadventures and complicated swindles, drawing an expert portrait of both the time period and the man. It's a useful reminder that America has always belonged to the con artist.
--CrimeReads

The 1920s was a decade of swindles--and one con artist out tricked them all... this is a story about unscrupulous deception told with a scrupulosity that is admirable.
--The New Statesman

In this extensively detailed biography, Willetts traces the brazen and bizarre life of Edgar Laplante, an early 20th century drifter and conman extraordinaire... he keeps the narrative alive with the colorful anecdotes from Laplante's remarkable life.
--Publishers Weekly

Willetts weaves a fast-paced, intriguing tale. With the rise of identity theft, celebrity worship, and manipulative social media, this sprightly story of a legendary con artist's outrageous successes becomes a cautionary tale for the digital age.
--Kirkus Reviews

Paul Willetts's King Con takes readers on a rollicking ride--a tale of false celebrity and ingenious cons by an inventive Jazz Age grifter that resonate across the decades to this particular moment in America with an unsettling relevance. Readers will be amused, entranced, and, I'm certain, left shaken.
--Howard Blum, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Goodnight and In the Enemy's House

Amazing, absorbing and phenomenally well-researched, King Con is a compelling story that proves truth is far, far stranger than fiction: a picture of an America so na ve and gullible it's hard to imagine. Not a page is turned without the reader learning something that astonishes and enthralls.
--Paul French, New York Times bestselling author of Midnight in Peking

Paul Willets's King Con is one hell of a rollicking good read. A fabulous tale of one of the all-time great con artists, pulled off with great verve and style. A Jazz Age classic!
--Alex Kershaw, New York Times bestselling author of Avenue of Spies and The Liberator

King Con is a riveting account of a Jazz Age grifter whose grandiose ruse of a life can only be described as fascinatingly ludicrous! A mesmerizing and enjoyable read.
--Suzanne Rindell, author of The Other Typist and Eagle & Crane

You might justifiably pick up King Con to travel back in time to the ultra-charming Jazz Age, but long after you've been pulled into the vortex of this riveting and deliciously strange tale, what will stick with you is the sheer, astonishing audacity of Edgar Laplante's all-consuming, decade-plus-long grift. An uproarious read.
--Dave Howard, author of Chasing Phil and Lost Rights

A story so bizarre--and so compulsively told--that my jaw remained anchored to the floor throughout.
--John Preston, author of A Very English Scandal

Think Charles Ponzi was slick? Edgar Laplante, a.k.a. Chief White Elk, was an imposter extraordinaire who hoodwinked audiences and newspaper readers across America and Europe. Paul Willetts spins the rollicking tale of this audacious con man with wit, razor-sharp insight and dazzling storytelling. Hang on for a wild ride.
--Dean Jobb, author of Empire of Deception

Anyone who thinks celebrity culture is a new phenomenon should read King Con. Drawing on a vast range of sources, Willetts has pieced together a rich and bizarre Jazz Age story of the century's most shameless confidence trickster... The cons are astounding but the escapes are even more outrageous. Whether he's peddling postcards or hoodwinking royalty, Laplante remains a fascinating figure. A brilliant feat of research is turned into a racing read.
--Christopher Fowler, author of the Bryant & May crime novels