Here are a list of books whose theme was financial crime. I loved these books. Some of them are not available in the public libraries as they are 'old'.
Lawrence Sanders's Timothy Cone series
The Timothy files
Timothy's game
I love Timothy and have read these books multiple times. I love this guy! He is so different from the polite backstabbers of today!
I had been to the Toronto Public Library recently and a book by Christopher Reich was kept on display right in front i.e. THE PRINCE OF RISK. Liking the blurb and the synopsis, I borrowed the book and discovered a great author! The book was fast paced and crime in the world of finance which is new to me (sort of new...I have read a long time ago, the Lawrence Sanders's Timothy Cone series which I loved)
I read this book in the same month that (1)my friend's son joined a bank as a finance analyst and he would tell his mom, who in turn told me about his job, which seems pretty exciting(2)My friend's son recommended a movie called Margin Call , also related to finance and I saw that movie, online around the same time(3)And then I saw the Wolf of Wall street...which is also related to crime in finance!
And then I happened by pure chance to see this book and picked it up
I then went on to read other books by this guy Reich starting with his first book i.e. Numbered Account . I loved this book. This book too is about finance i.e. crime in the world of Swiss banking. I then borrowed another book of his...I loved this one too i.e. Rules of Betrayal...But this book is NOT about finance...it is about terrorism, Gulf countries, Pakistan, etc. I am now reading The Devil's Banker.
What was amazing about The Devil's Banker was the accuracy of his description of certain places in Pakistan. I have never been there but I have been to places in India, which are similar and he has got the men's attitudes towards women, exactly as it is..and the description of their unwashed bodies, stinking of sweat is real. I wonder if Reich has been to Pakistan and experienced all this. His description of an Indian villain in The rules of betrayal captures the behavior of Chauvinistic men, with feelings of inferiority, who abound in many eastern cultures.(I am from the east and so if I sound racist, so be it..I have first hand experience of Indian men's behavior). The scene where a lady in a burka is surrounded by men and attacked by one, with the rest watching or cheering him on, is scary and unfortunately, all too.......I hope a lot of people read this book to understand the life of Pakistani people in general and women in particular.
There is one minor error in Devil's Banker,(first line of chapter 10) where he says the Bay of Bengal is near Karachi, Pakistan. It should read Arabian sea and not Bay of Bengal.
Thank you Christopher Reich!
Christopher Reich's
The prince of risk
Rules of Betrayal
Numbered account
Devil's banker
Rules of deception
Dick Francis's
Banker
Dick Francis has written over 50 crime novels with horse racing as a theme in all books and one other art or craft in each book. Banker is about horse racing and banking crimes.
Margin Call & The wolf of wall street are two movies I saw which is about financial crime. Not sure if they are book based movies. I found the wolf of wall street disgusting and it is disgusting to realize that it is based on true events! How unethical, callous, greedy, can humans get?
The book, "The financial expert" written by R.K.Narayan is NOT crime fiction. It's a book set in a small town in south India. The life of people is refreshingly simple(compared to life today) simple and is a contrast to life today! This book is more about this financial expert, his family and the people of the town and there is a tiny bit about finance.
Comparing this 1952 book about life in a small town in south India to the crime fiction listed above set me thinking.
Someone should compile and review crime fiction (or any other genre) of literature written over the years and then write about the changes in the plots over the passage of time. Just comparing books written in the 50s such as Chase's books, books written in the late 80s such as Timothy Cone's game, I see that the crimes are getting more and more sophisticated. The one constant in all these books written decades apart is human behaviour! Human indecency has remained the same since for ever I think!
I will add to this list as I recall the ones I read. Right now, nothing more pops into my mind! adios!
In 2017 I discovered the writer Ian Hamilton and his series of crime fiction books with a female protagonist i.e. Ava Lee. Ava Lee is a forensic accountant and she 'follows the money' and thus solves crimes. But I don't know if the books can be called as 'financial crimes'. Ava Lee's books are listed below.
Lawrence Sanders's Timothy Cone series
The Timothy files
Timothy's game
I love Timothy and have read these books multiple times. I love this guy! He is so different from the polite backstabbers of today!
I had been to the Toronto Public Library recently and a book by Christopher Reich was kept on display right in front i.e. THE PRINCE OF RISK. Liking the blurb and the synopsis, I borrowed the book and discovered a great author! The book was fast paced and crime in the world of finance which is new to me (sort of new...I have read a long time ago, the Lawrence Sanders's Timothy Cone series which I loved)
I read this book in the same month that (1)my friend's son joined a bank as a finance analyst and he would tell his mom, who in turn told me about his job, which seems pretty exciting(2)My friend's son recommended a movie called Margin Call , also related to finance and I saw that movie, online around the same time(3)And then I saw the Wolf of Wall street...which is also related to crime in finance!
And then I happened by pure chance to see this book and picked it up
I then went on to read other books by this guy Reich starting with his first book i.e. Numbered Account . I loved this book. This book too is about finance i.e. crime in the world of Swiss banking. I then borrowed another book of his...I loved this one too i.e. Rules of Betrayal...But this book is NOT about finance...it is about terrorism, Gulf countries, Pakistan, etc. I am now reading The Devil's Banker.
What was amazing about The Devil's Banker was the accuracy of his description of certain places in Pakistan. I have never been there but I have been to places in India, which are similar and he has got the men's attitudes towards women, exactly as it is..and the description of their unwashed bodies, stinking of sweat is real. I wonder if Reich has been to Pakistan and experienced all this. His description of an Indian villain in The rules of betrayal captures the behavior of Chauvinistic men, with feelings of inferiority, who abound in many eastern cultures.(I am from the east and so if I sound racist, so be it..I have first hand experience of Indian men's behavior). The scene where a lady in a burka is surrounded by men and attacked by one, with the rest watching or cheering him on, is scary and unfortunately, all too.......I hope a lot of people read this book to understand the life of Pakistani people in general and women in particular.
There is one minor error in Devil's Banker,(first line of chapter 10) where he says the Bay of Bengal is near Karachi, Pakistan. It should read Arabian sea and not Bay of Bengal.
Thank you Christopher Reich!
Christopher Reich's
The prince of risk
Rules of Betrayal
Numbered account
Devil's banker
Rules of deception
Dick Francis's
Banker
Dick Francis has written over 50 crime novels with horse racing as a theme in all books and one other art or craft in each book. Banker is about horse racing and banking crimes.
Margin Call & The wolf of wall street are two movies I saw which is about financial crime. Not sure if they are book based movies. I found the wolf of wall street disgusting and it is disgusting to realize that it is based on true events! How unethical, callous, greedy, can humans get?
The book, "The financial expert" written by R.K.Narayan is NOT crime fiction. It's a book set in a small town in south India. The life of people is refreshingly simple(compared to life today) simple and is a contrast to life today! This book is more about this financial expert, his family and the people of the town and there is a tiny bit about finance.
Comparing this 1952 book about life in a small town in south India to the crime fiction listed above set me thinking.
Someone should compile and review crime fiction (or any other genre) of literature written over the years and then write about the changes in the plots over the passage of time. Just comparing books written in the 50s such as Chase's books, books written in the late 80s such as Timothy Cone's game, I see that the crimes are getting more and more sophisticated. The one constant in all these books written decades apart is human behaviour! Human indecency has remained the same since for ever I think!
I will add to this list as I recall the ones I read. Right now, nothing more pops into my mind! adios!
In 2017 I discovered the writer Ian Hamilton and his series of crime fiction books with a female protagonist i.e. Ava Lee. Ava Lee is a forensic accountant and she 'follows the money' and thus solves crimes. But I don't know if the books can be called as 'financial crimes'. Ava Lee's books are listed below.
- The Water Rat of Wanchai 2011
- The Disciple of Las Vegas 2011
- The Wild Beasts of Wuhan 2012
- The Red Pole of Macau 2012
- The Scottish Banker of Surabaya 2013
- The Two Sisters of Borneo 2013
- The Dragon Head of Hong Kong (novella) 2014
- The King of Shanghai2014
- The Princeling of Nanjing 2016
- The Couturier of Milan2017
- The Iman of Tawi-Tawi 2017
- The goddess of Yantai (to be published)
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