Tricky Vic: The Impossibly True Story of the Man Who Sold the Eiffel Tower

Con artist ("but an artist all the same") "Count Victor Lustig" (born Robert Miller) fleeced his way as a card shark back and forth across the Atlantic; went into a counterfeiting scam in Chicago; then, in his greatest trick, convinced a Parisian businessman to buy the "salvage" of the Eiffel Tower. A genially sinister design incorporates cartoons and photographs; sidebars provide historical context. Websites. Bib., glos.

Amidst the current plethora of picture-book biography role models, it’s nice to see a book about a con artist. “Ah, yes. But an artist all the same.” “Count Victor Lustig” (born Robert Miller) fleeced his way as a card shark back and forth across the Atlantic until WWI put an end to that; after obtaining the blessing of Al Capone, Lustig went into a “money box” counterfeit-counterfeiting scam in Chicago before returning to Europe and his greatest trick of all -- convincing a Parisian businessman that the Eiffel Tower was about to be dismantled and taking his cash bid for the salvage. Lustig’s exploits did not end there, but they did end eventually, with the apparently nine-lived (and forty-five-pseudonymed) con man finishing his days on Alcatraz Island. With a sophisticated, genially sinister design incorporating cartoons and photographs into a low-toned red and mustard palette, the book signals the right kind of reader: one for whom venality is no obstacle to a good time. There’s no moral here, except perhaps for the one that closes the excellent author’s note: “Stay sharp.” Sidebars throughout provide historical context, and a glossary and thorough source list will give young crooks cover for school reports. roger sutton