Phony plus phony equals funny. That is the formula for [Dave Sulkin Cares!]. It works, within limits.

Fletcher Knebel … here scores a mild success, pitting two con-persons against each other. The plot suggests a new answer to the old paradox: what happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object? Knebel's answer is that if the forces are a con man and con woman, they fall in love, give up their bogus ways for normal lives, and abandon their glamorous lives for the same dull round of ordinary existence.

As you can see, I was saddened when this lively couple decided to quit their evil ways at the end of the book. For me, the height of the book comes at the beginning, with the hilarious description of the career of Gail Sunderling, who cuts a swatch of chicanery across the U.S., all the while half convincing...