The Faces of Fraud: 3 Classic Books on Deception and Imposture

Three Classic Tales of Imposture, Disguise, and Victorian SuspenseBy R. A. Davenport, Bram Stoker, Victor Bridges
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Length28h 23m

About this audiobook

The Faces of Fraud gathers three classic explorations of deception, imposture, and the unstable boundary between appearance and truth. Moving across suspense, crime fiction, and sensational romance, the volume demonstrates how fraud can function not merely as a plot device but as a pressure placed upon identity, class, trust, and desire. Its narratives of concealed motives, assumed selves, and contested evidence reveal the enduring literary fascination with the social performance of respectability. R. A. Davenport, Bram Stoker, and Victor Bridges represent distinct yet converging strands of popular British fiction: the sensational, the Gothic-inflected, and the mystery-driven. Read together, their works illuminate a cultural moment attentive to urban anonymity, shifting social roles, and anxieties surrounding criminal expertise. Their varied approaches—at once melodramatic, psychologically alert, and intricately plotted—show how tales of imposture could engage broader questions of modernity, authority, and moral judgment. This collection is especially recommended for readers of classic crime, Gothic fiction, and popular literary history. It offers a valuable opportunity to compare three approaches to fraud within a single volume, tracing how suspense, atmosphere, and social observation reshape a shared theme. Students and general readers alike will find in these works an instructive dialogue about credibility, performance, and the deceptive faces society chooses to believe.

Audiobook details

GenreLiterary Classics, General Fiction
Length28 hrs 23 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateMar 4, 2025
LanguageEnglish

Table of contents

1Sketches of Imposture, Deception, and Credulity
2CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.
3CHAPTER II. ON ANCIENT ORACLES, ETC.
4CHAPTER III. FALSE MESSIAHS, PROPHETS, AND MIRACLES.
5CHAPTER IV. ROMAN CATHOLIC SUPERSTITIONS, ETC.
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6CHAPTER V. ROYAL IMPOSTORS.
7CHAPTER VI. DISGUISES ASSUMED BY, OR IN BEHALF OF, ROYALTY.
8CHAPTER VII. MILITARY STRATAGEMS.
9CHAPTER VIII. MALINGERING, OR SIMULATION OF DISEASES.
10CHAPTER IX. MISCELLANEOUS IMPOSTORS AND IMPOSTURES.
11CHAPTER X. LITERARY IMPOSTORS AND DISGUISES.
12CHAPTER XI. IMPOSTURES IN ENGRAVING.
13CHAPTER XII. FORGED INSCRIPTIONS AND SPURIOUS MEDALS.
14CHAPTER XIII. ATTEMPT TO STEAL THE REGALIA FROM THE TOWER.
15CHAPTER XIV. VAMPYRISM.
16CHAPTER XV. JUGGLING.
17CHAPTER XVI. PRODIGIES.
18CHAPTER XVII. THE DELUSIONS OF ALCHEMY.
19CHAPTER XVIII. ASTROLOGY.
20CHAPTER XIX. MEDICAL DELUSIONS AND FRAUDS.
21CONCLUDING CHAPTER. MISCELLANEOUS.
22Famous Impostors
23Famous Impostors
24PREFACE
25I. PRETENDERS
26FAMOUS IMPOSTORS
27II. PRACTITIONERS OF MAGIC
28III. THE WANDERING JEW
29IV. JOHN LAW THE MISSISSIPPI SCHEME AND ITS ANTECEDENTS
30V. WITCHCRAFT AND CLAIRVOYANCE
31VI. ARTHUR ORTON (The Tichborne Claimant.)
32VII. WOMEN AS MEN
33VIII. HOAXES, ETC.
34IX. THE CHEVALIER D’EON
35X. THE BISLEY BOY
36Another Man's Shoes
37Another Man's Shoes
38CHAPTER I
39CHAPTER V
40CHAPTER IX
41CHAPTER XII
42CHAPTER XV
43CHAPTER XIX
44CHAPTER XXI
45CHAPTER XXIII
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