The glamorous setting is a rambling Toorak mansion; the heroine a con artist, Della, who lives on her wits; the supporting cast her close-knit family of swindlers, united by their imaginative rewriting of society’s rules; the love interest a wealthy target of Della’s deception; and the plot a sexy screwball romp involving Wilsons Promontory and a Tasmanian tiger.

Narrated by a heroine who is intelligent, feisty, but vulnerable, this modern-day romantic comedy fits nicely into the chick lit genre. Will Della get her money, her man, and/or a release from her life of crime? The pages turn quickly, enlivened by Jordan’s witty dialogue. Humour saves the novel from the banal, but not from the implausible. From the end of chapter one, I struggled with the issue of a con artist having to explain her actions to the reader. It seems the suspension of disbelief is easier to achieve on the silver screen than in a novel. Farce falls a little flat. A hero who lives in a vacuum, with no family or friends, lacks credibility. And how can an entire family of swindlers make their living with clear consciences? In the final three chapters, the author stumbles towards a resolution, before doing a U-turn and conning the reader out of a satisfactory ending. Fun for the author, at the expense of the reader.