Books: The Mother, the Son, and the Socialite

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Sante and Kenny Kimes are a walking, talking dime novel. This mother-and-son grifter team has conned, robbed and even enslaved. But the real problem, as an acquaintance observes, is that "the people they deal with keep coming up dead." The most famous of these may be Irene Silverman. This clunky but engrossing account of the Kimeses' relationship with the wealthy Manhattanite leaves us where the New York Police Department is now: with a seemingly notorious murder, but no body and only circumstantial evidence. Still, the book's catalog of doctored passports and errant blood drops shows why this tale may eventually have a Hollywood ending: life in prison.

--By Adam Cohen