Grifter's Song Books

Sam and Rachel are on the grift, on the make, and on the run. Long time grifters and lovers, the couple is in St. Louis to run a con on Barry Jacobsen, who owns a concrete business. But the clock is ticking on the deal, and on them. Mobsters from Philadelphia are one step behind, seeking revenge for the pair’s most recent scam. Caught between the dangers of this con being discovered and a mafia hit man finding them before they can wrap it up, Sam and Rachel walk a thin line of balance, striving to walk away with the money and their lives before their past catches up to them. Episodes in the A Grifter’s Song series: The Concrete Smile by Frank Zafiro People Like Us by J.D. Rhoades The Whale by Lawrence Kelter The Movie Makers by Gary Phillips Lost in Middle America by Colin Conway Losing Streak by Jim Wilsky

Longtime lovers and con artists Sam and Rachel sign on to help Sam’s old mentor, a legendary grifter known as Aunt Sally, pull off a scam that leverages the racist sentiments, gimlet-eyed avarice, and sleazy lust of an odious white supremacist college professor. But the couple has dragged their past behind them, and the Philly mobsters they ripped off not so long ago have set a relentless hunter with a head full of demons on their trail, with a mandate to inflict as much pain as possible before he puts the couple in the ground. As they put the grift together, Sam and Rachel uncover secrets and surprises about Aunt Sally, her enigmatic partner William, and themselves. People Like Us is a story of love and loyalty, of the lies that we call history, and of people who fight to live and love outside the walls of normal society.

Peter Keys is a multimillionaire real estate developer and the adventurer, who hasn’t been seen or heard from in over a decade. Because of his clandestine nature he is the stuff a con artist’s dreams are made from. Manhattan’s University Club is the spot where the brilliant, wealthy, and uber-accomplished rub their silk-clad elbows. Posing as Keys, Sam attempts to rope a man of incredible wealth into buying, of all things, a diamond mine. Sam and his beautiful comrade Rachel begin working their con when it become clear that they’re not the only ones working a scam, but it’s unclear just which side of the con this interloper is on, a wrinkle that quickly turns this very complicated con into a nightmare. They’re playing for all the marbles on this one. With so much at stake will they come out on top or will the players become the ones who get played?

Sam and Rachel are working a con in La La Land where the gold is for the asking as long as you can spin a captivating fable. Rachel’s character is an indie producer with Silicone Valley roots and Sam a life coach as they work their magic on the mark. All is going according to plan until the smiling gangster shows up and suddenly the scenario they created from fairy dust starts to evaporate as things go sideways…and they just might get out by the skin of their teeth.

Sam and Rachel are back and this time they’re in the heart of middle America. Sam is called to Lima, Ohio to help a former acquaintance, a pimp that helped him early in his career. This colleague wants revenge on the rival pimp who stole his business, his stable of girls, and his reputation. Another man’s redemption holds little interest to Sam, but the promise of a payday gets his attention. Rachel doesn’t want anything to do with this job. It’s got too many things going against it, starting with the target they’re supposed to con. A pimp with a nasty disposition and a quick temper is not a man to cross. However, she jumps in with Sam when they learn just how that rival pimp has been hiding his ill-gotten gains. To keep his extra cash out of the banking system, he’d been buying and hoarding high-grade comics and gold bars. They’re kept securely in a safety deposit box. All Sam and Rachel must do is figure out how to get into that box and get away clean. Now, the heat is turned up in mid-western Ohio as an untrusting pimp slowly realizes he’s being played for his fortune.

Rocco Tolenti used to have an easy gig – bodyguard for Little Vincent. He watched over the mobster and occasionally did a little “heavy lifting” for him. But when a pair of con artists took Little Vincent for some money and fled the city, Rocco got a new full-time job: find the grifters and bring them back to Philadelphia. Because Little Vincent had a burning need for vengeance. Thus begins Rocco’s pursuit of the elusive duo all across the country. He won’t stop until he catches them. Nothing will get in his way, not even the end of the world.

Sam and Rachel are on the run suffering through a losing streak of failed cons. Low on money, time and ideas they have no choice but to hunker down and regroup. In a small bar, Sam stumbles onto what he thinks what might be an opportunity. They need a win, any kind of victory to get them back on track. What follows is a rushed con that has is full of potential pitfalls, a fifty-fifty chance of being successful—at best. They question themselves and if they have the confidence to move forward. They do, with limited resources and relying on what they know, what they do and wounded pride. In the end they really had no choice because grifting is their life, in good times and in bad.

Sam and Rachel are still down and out, scratching out survival level cash in short cons as they travel through out of the way areas. They’re spotted doing a con at the train station in Lawles County, and blackmailed into helping a man get revenge on his nemesis, Deputy Slade, by cheating the dirty cop out of the money he has stashed away.

Sam and Rachel plan to lay low in Mexico, but target a rich mark in San Fran to finance the vacation. The con involves fake proprietary software that unethically captures user data for sellers. Rachel takes point, and is soon involved with the mark. When he pushes the boundaries with her, Sam gets uncharacteristically jealous, and the two longtime grifter partners encounter a strain on their relationship.

Longtime grifters Rachel and Sam are at it again, this time targeting Mack Foley, the owner of a chain of Sacramento area gyms. Posing as a CEO on tour to promote her company’s ICO, Rachel approaches him at an upscale South Lake Tahoe ski resort, hoping the financial fall out from his recent divorce will prompt him to invest in their fake cryptocurrency. Staging the con has left Sam and Rachel strapped for cash, so when the mark is reluctant to bite, they get nervous. But Foley is a gambler and it’s only a matter time before their hard work pays off—a little too well. They’ve hardly popped the cork on the celebratory Champagne bottle before they get some surprise investors and Rachel gets a surprise of her own. When Foley realizes he’s been played and hires a fixer to exact his revenge, Rachel and Sam find themselves on the run again. With everything they care about on the line, they’re in the race of their lives and this time, they might not win.

In the aftermath of a mega-church scandal, Sam and Rachel take advantage of its adoption program shutting down, working a con with the desperate parents who just saw their opportunity to adopt a child fade away. Posing as an evangelical couple, the grifters quickly run afoul of a local religious order and a vengeful deacon.

Using a variation of the fiddle con, Sam and Rachel pass off a fake Rembrandt painting, then manufacture a crisis to exert more pressure on the mark. This time, though, the money is secondary to them, as they try to secure some leverage against the gangsters who have plagued them for years.

A battered Sam and Rachel realize they must take a sabbatical from the grift for an extended time to escape the vengeful mobsters hounding them. To survive, they must raid all of the honey pots they’ve left scattered across the country. Some may be watched by the mob, others will require a con to recover. They go after these caches of cash with danger—and death—lurking at every turn.

This is Tijuana, MX. Rachel’s tending bar in a sex club and Sam’s doing illegal errands for Chito Ochoa, a wannabe cartel enforcer. They’re looking for their next mark. When Billy Jake, a dorky rich kid and ambitious documentary filmmaker, approaches Rachel about doing a doc on Mexican strippers, she convinces him there’s a better story to tell. Does he want to penetrate a Mexican cartel? It just so happens she’s got the keys to the kingdom. Sam takes Billy along for a few simple chores and it’s like waving crank in front of a junkie—the rich kid takes the bait. But he’ll need a kicker for his groundbreaking story, and Sam and Rachel know just the thing. All it’ll take is forty Gs of Billy's money. And why not buy in? This might be the greatest story Billy Jake ever gets to tell. Praise for THE RULE OF THIRDS: “Phillips writes good grift. The Rule of Thirds is a sexy, savvy, con caper with a sting in its tail.” —DDC Morgan, author of Blood &Cinders “Tijuana noir is its own thing, and The Rule of Thirds is Exhibit A. It’s lean and mean, short and not sweet at all.” —Albert Tucher, author of The Same Mistake Twice and The Honorary Jersey Girl “Matt Phillips offers a piece of border noir that’s as much about survival and ambition as it is about the current Mexican/American dynamic. Characters trying to make it big while clawing to just make it day to day. A tight, punchy ride that kicks up the social stratum.” —Hector Duarte, Jr., author of Desperate Times Call “ The Rule of Thirds moves so fast it’ll snap your neck if you’re not careful. Pure noir with unlikable and yet engaging characters, a fascinating premise, and escalating tension that’ll make you sweat.” —Paul Heatley, author of Cutthroat and Just Like Jesus

Sam and Rachel take on Hollywood, playing the same writer/producer team they did when they conned a movie star a couple years back. This time their mark is a shady MD with Tinsel Town dreams and dangerous associates who use the homeless for medical fraud. While Rachel is stalked on a studio lot by a vengeful PI, Sam finds himself stranded on the streets without ID, money, or shoes. It’s a beat-the-clock trek through the wilds of L.A. as Sam uses his street smarts to escape his pursuers. Can Sam get to Rachel in time, or will he end up another faceless victim among the down and out?

What is travel money exactly? It’s that little bit of cash to get you to the next gig. In the case of Sam and Rachel it’s the expense money to get them from one con to the next. But you can’t live on travel money. Certainly not Sam and Rachel. In the story Travel Money , the cash serves to get our two favorite cons from the small con to the big one. Once they find their mark, they’ll be sitting pretty on the beach of their choice—and for a good long while. The score is not only big, the stolen item itself is huge. Our cons will be looking at more than a few dollars north of a million. Roping the mark will be no easy feat. Especially one as savvy as Francisco Glanis. Add to this, it appears as though a blast from the grifter’s past in the form of a hitter for the Philly mob has located Sam and Rachel. However, if the score goes down as planned in the quaint little affluent town of Buckeye, California, the relentless grifters will have toes in sand, cocktails in hands and won’t have to concern themselves with travel money…for a long time.

Sam and Rachel are on the grift in Vail, Colorado, where they’re working sex-crazed Texas business tycoon Dan Croft to invest in their fake marijuana edibles company. But little do they know that Denver private eye Rick Malone is also onto their mark, hired to track him down over money he stole in his own scam back in Texas. With stakes running high and temperatures running low, it’s anyone’s guess who will be left holding the cash when the smoke clears, and whose lives will be forever changed in the process.

Genevieve Davidson is a budding con artist. She’s a mostly-broke server at a roadside restaurant just over the Wisconsin border, but the young and wealthy of Chicago know her as Kendra, a carefree and world-traveling trust fund baby. In a rush to impress a friend—and pick up some extra cash to pay down her own debt—she let Sam and Rachel con her into a deal. But, “Kendra’s” friend is a younger cousin of Little Vincent. In return for her silence, Genevieve demands Sam and Rachel return the stolen cash, and asks for their help on a job. A local entrepreneur is willing to bribe an alderman for a lucrative plot of land tainted by a scandal-plagued murder investigation. With insider details from Genevieve’s old friend Marina—an assistant to the alderman who knows nothing of Genevieve’s double life—Sam and Rachel must slide into the deal themselves.

The world of thoroughbred racehorses doesn't immediately sound dangerous, but when Sam and Rachel devise a lucrative con involving the breeding process, it gets that way fast.

Aaron Sears has a quiet therapy practice. He doesn’t advertise. He only sees exclusive clients, all alphas in their field. And he’s good at what he does, getting the kinds of results alphas demand. When he agrees to see a couple whose relationship is struggling, he is immediately struck by two things. One is the lovely Portia, who gets under his skin in a way he hasn’t experienced in years. The other is a brooding sense of suspicion about the couple. Aaron is certain that something is off about them, that they’re lying to him or keeping a secret. Then again, Aaron Sears has a secret of his own…

Business mogul Trey Osborne has money, power, and worst of all, a desire to beat all of his competitors at anything and everything. When an enterprising con artist offers him a way to show up John Frye, his chief business rival, Osborne leaps at the chance. She brings Sam and Rachel into the mix, and the pair suddenly find themselves in a battle of money and wits amidst the world of stolen artwork. Compared to Osborne, they may lack money, but the pair has survived for decades on their wits. As the winding path of this con takes them from the wealthiest parts of Minneapolis to the secret places of an international airport and ultimately to the deserted woods of Canada, one thing remains constant throughout—the stakes have never been higher.

Newark, New Jersey is nobody’s idea of a vacation. When an unexpected Nor’easter crushes their holiday getaway and leaves Sam and Rachel stranded at the airport, they befriend a mysterious, sophisticated stranger. They quickly recognize him as one of their own, a veteran grifter who poses no threat. When he extends them the hospitality of his hotel suite, they quickly decide it's a much better option than sleeping at the airport. But there’s a catch. There's always a catch. Their new friend is a Diamond Dog and he wastes no time asking if they’ll run with him.

Sam’s mentor Porter once tried to convince him that a grifter’s conscience was like an appendix—useless most of the time and painful, even deadly, when it flares up. Drawn back to Colorado on a personal matter, Sam and Rachel must confront a formative event from Sam’s past, facing a man he did wrong. And unlike the long trail of marks they’ve left in their wake, this one wears a badge.

When Sam visits an Albany area gin mill and overhears two big Russian twins spouting off about their cash cow concrete business along with their desire to make a pulp fiction flick just like the great Tarantino, he can't help but smell a grift. When the sexy young female bartender informs him what the twins are really up to in the basement of their concrete plant—cooking meth and cocaine, and making a ton of cash in the process—Sam knows he can’t pass up the opportunity. With Rachael by his side acting as his “co-producer,” Sam transforms himself into Francis Strazzella, famed Italian-born movie producer who wants to make the twins’ movie and perhaps even persuade the mighty Tarantino to direct it. This ruse provides the perfect cover Sam and Rachael need for infiltrating the concrete plant and getting their hands on the stacks of cash that are no doubt to be found there. Only, no Tarantino movie ever goes the way you think, even if it is a cheap knock-off version…

Terrified and on the run after a disastrous con in Dallas, grifters Sam and Rachel find themselves trapped by a blizzard in Nebraska. Low on cash and nerve, they find a local job that seems easy enough: orchestrate the fake kidnapping of a down-and-out academic, then split the ransom with the "victim." But underneath all that open space, malice and hate breed quickly. Sam and Rachel soon discover everyone is lying, and that this simple job is a lot more complicated—and dangerous—than either of them expected. Trapped by circumstance and need, the grifters find themselves hunted by occultist Neo-Nazis, extravagantly armed private security, a crazed art dealer with cartel connections, and some of the most powerful institutions in the state, all while another blizzard bears down. Caught between family, faith, money, drugs and power, Sam and Rachel can only rely on their skills, and each other, or see their own blood spread atop the constantly falling snow. Praise for The Low White Plain : “Set against the bleakest snowstorm this side of the Apocalypse, The Low White Plain bubbles with white-hot energy and tension that threatens to slit a throat with every turned page. Come for the neo-Nazis, religious fanatics, and gun nuts, but stay for Paul J. Garth’s masterful exploration of two desperate criminals on the run. This is what they’re talking about when they talk about ‘noir,’ and Garth knows its pulsing heartbeat—even as characters bleed out across the barren landscape.” —James D.F. Hannah, Shamus Award-winning author of Behind the Wall of Sleep and She Talks to Angels “With The Low White Plain , Paul J. Garth has crafted a lean, mean, bloody machine. It zips as fast as a bullet on a winter’s day and delivers all the satisfactions of a con gone wrong.” —Nick Kolakowski, author of Love & Bullets and Payback Is Forever “In The Low White Plain , Paul J. Garth delivers breakneck action and a taut, razor-sharp plot that pits a couple of savvy con artists against a vicious Nazi cult, murderous hired guns and an old mark out to collect a blood debt. Another excellent addition to the Grifter’s Song saga.” —Dennis Tafoya, author of Dope Thief

Using the confidential list they pilfered from Aaron Sears, Sam and Rachel delve into the world of artifact sales. Rachel poses as a museum curator while Sam takes on the role of rogue archaeologist. Their first marks are Robert and Evie Malvern, a wealthy couple who are known to quietly collect ancient artifacts via illicit means. But the grift hits a snag immediately when Robert Malvern turns the tables on them at gunpoint. The threat of death or prison is very real but he offers them a way out: if Rachel will pose as his missing wife for the next few days, he will call it even. It doesn’t seem like a difficult assignment but quickly becomes a disturbing one. Evidence mounts that Evie Malvern isn't missing but murdered. Meanwhile, Sam goes to great lengths to do what he can to protect Rachel, discovering along the way that the Malverns have gotten themselves into trouble with some vengeful criminals. Both he and Rachel realize that they are pawns in the Malverns’ latest gambit. The question is, does this realization come too late? Will Rachel survive her dangerous impersonation of Evie, or suffer the same fate? Is this the end for the grifters?

Sam and Rachel help out an old friend with a delicate situation that leads to an opportunity for a little blackmail. Their plans are disrupted, however, and they are quickly embroiled in a power struggle with the shadowy elite of the nation’s capital. Can Sam and Rachel match wits with these hidden movers and shakers? Or will they find themselves crushed underfoot?

In between cons, Rachel and Sam stumble across a retirement community manager in desperate need of workers. Once they hear how posh the facility is, the grifters agree to temporary jobs. As soon as they arrive, the pair begins to plan their next move, completely unaware that some of the tenants are former mobsters. And worse yet, they’re bored.

With nothing but a suitcase of stolen business attire and a hot credit card for emergencies, Rachel and Sam find themselves in Tampa, where they ferret out a promising mark with hundreds of acres of unadulterated land he is interested in selling. Sam convinces the man he’s in the land development business. The landowner is adamantly opposed to involving lawyers or any other entities that would reduce his potential payday and agrees to hire them to proceed with their plans. The couple’s real goal is to con six figures out of him in wire transfers for work they say they’ll have done. Their luck changes when the landowner suspects they are not who they say they are and their Philadelphia past catches up with them.

Short on money and low on resources—it’s all-too-common ground for Sam and Rachel. When they find themselves stuck in a small West Virginia town, Rachel seizes upon a travel carnival, posing as a psychic as a chance to make some fast cash. But Sam sees greater opportunities with the sideshow owner, a self-proclaimed “cryptid hunter” willing to pay top dollar for proof of a mysterious monster. What should be a chance at easy money puts Sam and Rachel in a deadly intersection of human trafficking, money laundering, and religious obsession…