Hustle, By Will Ferguson

The lives of grifters and conmen have always been romanticised. In his latest book, Canadian satirist Will Ferguson goes full hog, conjuring up a world of snappy dressers, hot jazz clubs and cool customers.

When 19-year-old Jack McGreary is recruited by arch swindlers, Virgil and Miss Rose, he's happy to leave his days of dustbowl poverty behind.

The automobile has just opened up the world of get away crime, and soon he's riding shotgun across America's South West, stripping stores and banks of their last remaining assets, and women of their clothes.

If you can withstand several hundred pages of speakeasy lingo, you're in for an exhilarating ride.