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Tiger Girl And The Candy Kid: America's Original Gangster Couple – The Jazz Age True Crime Tale of a Million-Dollar Heist and Tabloid Infamy
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About This Book
The true Jazz Age tale of America's first gangster couple, Margaret and Richard Whittemore Before Bonnie and Clyde there were Tiger Girl and the Candy Kid—smarter, more successful and better looking. In the wake of world war, a pandemic, and an economic depression, Margaret and Richard Whittemore, two love-struck working-class kids from Baltimore, reached for the dream of a better life. The couple headed up a gang that in less than a year stole over one million dollars' worth of diamonds and precious gems—over ten million dollars today. Margaret was a chic flapper, the archetypal gun moll, partner to her husband's crimes. Richard was the quintessential bad boy, whose cunning and violent ambition allowed the Whittemores to live the kind of lives they'd only seen in the movies. Along the way he killed at least three men, until prosecutors managed a conviction. As tabloids across the country exclaimed the details of the couple's star-crossed romance, they became heroes to a new generation of young Americans who sought their own version of freedom. Set against the backdrop of the Roaring Twenties' excesses, acclaimed author Glenn Stout takes us from the jailhouse to the speakeasy, from the cabarets where the couple celebrated good times to the gallows where their story finally came to an end—leaving Tiger Girl pining for a final kiss. Tiger Girl and the Candy Kid is a thrilling tale of rags to riches, tragedy and infamy.
Reviews
"even allowing for embellishments, Tiger Girl and the Candy Kid is a hell of a yarn—worthy of an HBO hoodlum epic like Boardwalk Empire ..."
"Despite a slow start, however, the narrative picks up around the middle and ends with a flourish ..."
"Stout...ties up the loose ends nicely ..."
"A compulsively readable criminal biography as well as a vivid cultural snapshot of early Prohibition-era America."
"Author Glenn Stout has written a fascinating account of the ill-fated rogues."
"Stout has clearly done a ton of research on the period, and he's really captured the unique combination of prosperity and desperation that was the Roaring Twenties."
"This snappy page-turner informs and delights."
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