SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: PROS AND CON

 "Pros and Con" by Janet Evanivich & Lee Goldberg  (e-Book published in 2013, exerpted -- and evidently expunged --from The Heist. 2013)

Presented now as a prequel to The Heist, the first book in the Fox and O'Hare series, we are introduce to Kate O'Hare, a beautiful, ambitious, and somewhat slovenly FBI agent addicted to junk food and trying to capture Nicholas Fox, the world's most daring and inventive con man.  Fox has scammed millions from truly horrible people in his Robin Hood-like career; although Fox doesn't give to the poor, keeping the loot for himself.  Fox's scams are bold and elaborate and outrageously funny despite the danger -- think Mission:  Impossible on nitrous oxide.

Fox's latest target is 58-year-old Milton Royce, a buy-out pirate about to marry his third wife, the sublimely sexy and somewhat braindead Carolyn Boyett, whose physical qualities leave ordinary men stunned and drooling.  Carolyn  has two outstanding qualities (other than the two that hold up her dress):  she has a childlike ego that demands she always be the center of attention and she can outshop and outbuy any other person in existence.  Naturally, Carolyn insists that her weeding be the most expensive and most talked-about ever.  Which is where Nicholas Fox comes in.

Fox is posing as Merrill Stubing, the overtly gay wedding planner to the stars.  (Fox always uses aliases of long-ago television characters -- a tell that helps Kate to trace him, usually by the time it's too late.)  Fox the past several months, Fox has been planning the weeding as a blow-out extravaganza.  With the emphasis on blow-out.  The wedding is to be held in Royce's 10,000 square foot penthouse on the 20th floor of Chicago's Windsong building.  The penthouse also happens to hold Royce's fabilous collection of golden Chachappoyen tribal artifacts, along with many other valuables; it also has a safe which holds the passwords to numbered accounts holding most of Royce's ill-gotten gains.  Fox has a hgihly-trained crew able to clean the penthouse of all its valuable goodies -- minus the carrera marble floors -- in the space of fourteen minutes.  While his crew is clearing the penthouse of treasures, Fox will be blowing Royce's safe during a very loud rendition of "Sweet Carolyn" (complete with fireworks) during the ceremony.

Although they had never met, Nicholas Fox is attracted to Kate O'Hare and enjoys the cat and mouse game the two play, sending her clues and hints of his current capers.  Kate denies she is attracted to Fox, despite his good looks, charm, and boyish daring.  

Kate follows the clues and manages to appear at the Windsong when the wedding is taking place.  Security refuses to admit because Merrill Stubing has warned them that paparazzia may try to invade the ceremony by pretending they are government agents.  Nonetheless, Kate manages to foil the robbery in part, although most of the loot and Fox's crew escape.  Fox himself, trapped by a swarth of federal agents, also manages to escape, visiting Kate's hotel room while she is organizing the search for him , and leaving a Toblerone wrappers in her beds.  Toblerones will become a recurring theme in the series.

Yes, Kate eventually captures Fox, but he escapes and she has to start the chase all over again.  Eventually, Fox works out a deal with Kate's bosses, similar to the one that Raymond 'red" Reddington worked out in the television show The Blacklist, in which Fox will work with Kate to bring down some of the world's most dangerous and corrupt men.  Given unlimited government funds and resources and the ability to hire their own talented, quirky crew, Kate and Fox not only bring down the bad guys but manages to add millions in scammed funds to the FBI's coffers.  The dangers are reals, the scams increasingly elaborate, and the pace is fast in this well-written series.

Although I have not yet read the two follow-ups listed below, the Evanovich/Goldberg collaborations are highly recommended.  Fun times.

The Fox and O'Hare series by Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg:

"The Caper" (a prequel short story eBook, 2018)

"Pros and Cons" (a prequel short story eBook, 20130

The Heist (2013)

The Chase (2014)

"The Shell Game" (a prequel short story eBook, 2014)

The Job (2014)

The Scam (2015)

The Pursuit (2016)

by Janet Evanovich and Peter Evanovich:

The Big Kahuna (2019)

by Janet Evanovich and Steve Hamilton:

The Bounty (2021)