False heirs. Impostor Chinese princesses. Intriguing ladies. Alleged ghost hunters... Masters of Deception, by Tori Telfer, is an anthology full of black humor that collects the exploits of some of the most notorious scammers in history.

In the 1700s in Paris, one Jeanne de Saint-Rémy deceived royal jewelers with a necklace made of six hundred and forty-seven diamonds claiming that she was Queen Marie Antoinette's best friend. In the mid-1800s, sisters Kate and Maggie Fox pretended they could talk to spirits and inadvertently started a religious movement. How many women after the death of the Romanovs have claimed to be Grand Duchess Anastasia? For Tori Telfer, the art of the female con has a long and venerable tradition, and this book is proof.