Catch Me If You Can meets Patricia Highsmith in this stylish (New York Times Book Review)
page-turner of greed and obsession survival and self-invention that is a piercing character
study of one unforgettable female con artist.At the end of the 1990s with the art market
finally recovered from its disastrous collapse Miss Rebecca Farwell has made a killing at
Christie's in New York City selling a portion of her extraordinary art collection for a
rumored 900 percent profit. Dressed in couture YSL drinking the finest champagne at trendy
Balthazar Reba as she's known is the picture of a wealthy art collector. To some the
elusive Miss Farwell is a shark with outstanding business acumen. To others she's a heartless
capitalist whose only interest in art is how much she can make.But a thousand miles from the
Big Apple in the small town of Pierson Illinois Miss Farwell is someone else entirely-a
quiet single woman known as Becky who still lives in her family's farmhouse wears sensible
shoes and works tirelessly as the town's treasurer and controller.No one understands the ins
and outs of Pierson's accounts better than Becky she's the last one in the office every night
crunching the numbers. Somehow her neighbors marvel she always finds a way to get the
struggling town just a little more money. What Pierson doesn't see-and can never discover-is
that much of that money is shifted into a separate account that she controls borrowed funds
used to finance her art habit. Though she quietly repays Pierson when she can the business of
art is cutthroat and unpredictable. But as Reba Farwell's deals get bigger and bigger Becky
Farwell's debt to Pierson spirals out of control. How long can the talented Miss Farwell
continue to pull off her double life?
