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    Parlor Games: A Novel
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    Parlor Games: A Novel
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    Parlor Games: A Novel
    Audiobook13 hours

    Parlor Games: A Novel

    Written by Maryka Biaggio

    Narrated by Leslie Carroll

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    Based on a true story, comes a sweeping historical novel about a beautiful con artist whose turn-of-the-century escapades take her around the world as she's doggedly pursued by a Pinkerton Agency detective

    The novel opens in 1917 with our cunning protagonist, May Dugas, standing trial for extortion. As the trial unfolds, May tells her version of events.

    In 1887, at the tender age of eighteen, May ventures to Chicago in hopes of earning enough money to support her family. Circumstances force her to take up residence at the city's most infamous bordello, but May soon learns to employ her considerable feminine wiles to extract not only sidelong looks but also large sums of money from the men she encounters.  Insinuating herself into Chicago's high society, May lands a well-to-do fiancé-until, that is, a Pinkerton Agency detective named Reed Doherty intervenes and summarily foils the engagement.

    Unflappable May quickly rebounds, elevating seduction and social climbing to an art form as she travels the world, eventually marrying a wealthy Dutch Baron. Unfortunately, Reed Doherty is never far behind and continues to track May in a delicious cat-and-mouse game as the newly-minted Baroness's misadventures take her from San Francisco to Shanghai to London and points in between.

    The Pinkerton Agency really did dub May the "Most Dangerous Woman," branding her a crafty blackmailer and ruthless seductress.  To many, though, she was the most glamorous woman to grace high society. Was the real May Dugas a cold-hearted swindler or simply a resourceful provider for her poor family?

    As the narrative bounces back and forth between the trial taking place in 1917 and May's devious but undeniably entertaining path to the courtroom-hoodwinking and waltzing her way through the gilded age and into the twentieth century-we're left to ponder her guilt as we move closer to finding out what fate ultimately has in store for our irresistible adventuress.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateJan 15, 2013
    ISBN9780449806692
    Unavailable
    Parlor Games: A Novel

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    Reviews for Parlor Games

    3.5/5

    58 ratings16 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Very entertaining!
    • 4/5
      Parlor Games by Maryka Biaggio is a fictionalized account of a female con artist born in a small town in Michigan. The story opens with a trial held in her home town in 1917. She was used inventing a new alias when she wanted to start a new life. I counted five aliases in this book. The book opens with her telling her own story and then goes back and forth to different points in her life in chronological order and the proceedings of the trial that started the book. Born in poverty and her mother taught her how to make a good impression and wanted Mary Dugas to marry someone higher on the social ladder. Her father taught to invent stories tauting job experience that he did not have. Throughout her life, she invented scheme and scheme to get people's money. She used flattery and acting to con the people. She even had a Pinkerton agent chasing her down and interrupting her schemes. I felt no sympathy for her and was amazed the author's skill in keeping the story going. I knew from her schemes that she had to be intelligent to think of them and also found out later by finding a picture of her, that she was very beautiful. Here is a woman who wanted to cheat, trick people of their money, jewel and even a title. She did not seem to have a conscience or guilt. I still enjoyed the story and believe that I have picked up some clues about con artists.
    • 5/5
      Richly evocative, smoothly non-judgemental, and historically fascinating, Maryka Biaggio’s Parlor Games introduces readers to a time and place of need and resolution, where the rich are different and imitation is the sincerest form of success. The story begins with the protagonist on trial, and her narration offers to let the reader judge, while she tells how things came to this.Soon the past is unveiling itself in chapters that flow smoothly between the two timelines of life and legal tribulation. Soon the reader is balancing between condemnation, humor, and hope. And the worlds of a changing century come to vivid life. Chicago, Shanghai, London, San Francisco… the almost successes of almost real love, and the almost failures of a Pinkerton’s devotion to duty… the Gilded Age, how delightfully gilded, is passing, and a woman who provides for her family waits for judgment on her judgment calls.Parlor Games takes readers from bordello to cruise, crossing continents and causes, and inexorably drawing toward an unknown conclusion. Guilty, innocent (ah, never innocent she), cruel or kind… let the reader (or the courts) decide.As an added enticement, story and characters are drawn from well-researched and richly-imagined history. A truly enjoyable and fascinating read.Disclosure: A friend loaned me the book—she knew I’d enjoy it.
    • 4/5
      I had seen this book floating around the internet. Yet, I never got around to checking it out. My sister actually got me this book. So I finally had a chance to check this book out. I have never heard of May Dugas. Yet I am drawn to these types of stories of strong women and this time period. When you mix these two elements with a really good writer, you get a lovely book like Parlor Games by Maryka Biaggio. I did not feel like May was ever a victim. In fact, I kind of thought of her as a cool hero. The guys she took advantage of I could not even feel sorry for as well. They either deserved it or if they thought they could rein May in, they were too gullible. The chase between May and Reed was entertaining. I would say they both were on equal playing fields when it came to who had the upper hand. I had a smile on my face for the ending of this story.
    • 3/5
      Con artist, and the Pinkerton who keeps showing up to wilt her chances for romance and riches -- not in that order. Based on a real woman, and a famous Michigan trial involving a possibly stolen necklace.
    • 5/5
      This was the best book I have read in a while... I would love to read more books by this author

      ** I received this book for free as part of a First - Reads promotion
    • 5/5
      WOW!! What an amazing read this was! I loved every minute of this book and I do wish Maryka Biaggio had more to offer. Parlor Games was just, well, it was YUMMY!! I started reading it and I just couldn't get enough. When it ended,(and I HATED that it ended!) I searched Goodreads, Amazon, and every place imaginable to find something comparable. Biaggio has written a juicy fictional account based on the real May Dugas de Pallandt van Eerde, the Baroness, that was a page turner for me. I couldn't wait to learn what May was up to next...and May was certainly up to A LOT. I have chosen to keep this review short and simple, if only to prevent me from gushing an essay.

      May Dugas is a young woman wanting more than her small Michigan town has to offer. May adores luxury and sets out to find those riches in Chicago. Why and how May gets to Chicago had me raising my eyebrow. Let's just say that May Dugas reminds me of that clever, conniving vixen, Scarlett O'Hara. May has a certain way about doing things and it is mostly for her own selfish gains. However, May's questionable ingenuity did not endear her less to me. She has her faults, one being a fugitive from justice, but I still wanted her to come out on top. After all, May wasn't completely heartless. When she loved, she loved deeply and she did have her generous moments. Regardless, May is a very likeable character and her escapades take her around the world and back again, traveling in style and hobnobbing with the very best, all the while being hunted by a relentless Pinkerton across three continents. As I said, May had a certain way about doing things and some of those things were very questionable. Parlor Games is just the right mix of love, intrigue, betrayal, extortion, blackmail, and adventure and it has absolutely found it's way to my "all-time favorites" list. I loved it!!
    • 3/5
      For a good part of this book, I was waiting for something really interesting to happen. At some point, I realized that it wasn't going to get any more interesting. The book isn't dull, its just a bit repetitive.

      I also found the extensive descriptions of gowns and jewelry distracting, but that is probably just a matter of taste.

    • 4/5
      Where I got the book: purchased from Amazon. Maryka is a friend.I jumped on this novel, friend or no friend, because of the cover—a gorgeous piece of design—and the era. Plus, the promise of naughty goings-on in Chicago parlor houses, which were the better brothels.Alas, the blurb is massively deceptive on that point. This is, in fact, biographical fiction covering thirty years in the life of May Dugas, who was a real person. She starts out as a girl from a very ordinary family in Menominee, in the upper peninsula of Michigan. Her amorous nature gets her into trouble that serves as her excuse for going to Chicago, and it’s while she’s trying to survive in the big city that her stint in a parlor house comes in, but it’s way too short. Which is a pity because the story of how May survives in Chicago and why she has to leave could easily fill a novel, and includes a scene that for me was the highlight of the book.But in real life May got up to a whole lot more, and Parlor Games follows her career. The story of May’s life is framed by a court case in 1917, when May was sued by a former friend—but that doesn’t stop it from being episodic, as you’d expect in the case of an adventuress who periodically has to pick up and start again. I couldn’t help liking May, and I loved the way she (since she’s telling the story) always slants it slightly so she’s in her best light, leaving the court case to cast doubt on the reliability of her narrative. If you believe May, nothing is entirely her fault—a very creditable character flaw, and one with which I’m well acquainted.There were some lovely scenes and well-paced dialogue, and if you’re a fan of life-story fiction you’ll enjoy the changes of location and May’s ability to pull herself out of one situation after another. I prefer a novel with a stronger center, a definite source of conflict or desire, so for me this is a 3.5 star read for the quality of the writing and the clarity of the plotting.
    • 3/5
      May Dugas is most definitely a con-artist and an unreliable narrator. Talk about trying to make a criminal look like an innocent bystander! It was a lot of fun to travel along with May from Chicago to Portland to San Francisco to Shanghai to Hong Kong to you name it, she probably went there. I think the author did a great job of recreating May's world. Part of the problem though is that I never believed May -- I never thought she loved these guys. I think she thought she did...or she just wanted the reader to feel sorry for her. (And well...I didn't.)I'm interested in learning more about the real May -- I mean, "the most dangerous woman in the world" is a pretty hefty title!
    • 2/5
      The settings in Parlor Games were amazing. London, New York, Shanghai, etc., but the same Pinkerton Agency detective keeps tracking May down in these cities. How? It didn't seem reasonable to me. Maybe I can't imagine finding people in the years before the internet? May changed her name and moved frequently but Detective Doherty kept showing up at inopportune times. (Just in time to foil her plans!)

      I wasn't able to connect with May. I would have liked to have understood her better, to hear her thoughts and justifications for her actions. I may have liked this book more if I had a clue about May's motives. Is she trying to help support her family by conning and conniving her way through life? That reason didn't hold up for me as she treats her family members shabbily at best.

      Parlor Games did contain enjoyable sections. I was intrigued by the extortion trial. Those were my favorite parts of the book and the only place I felt I was learning a bit more about the characters. That was what I wanted more of. I loved the idea of this book because I love learning about history and real historical characters. Unfortunately this book fell flat for me.

      Parlor Games was apparently inspired by the real life of May Dugas. I'm wondering if a nonfiction account would work better for me? Sadly, this book did not.
    • 4/5
      Kim's BookstackSaturdayWicked Baroness May Dugas - simple young woman just trying to better herself and make men happy by letting them help her feel better with jewels, trips and clothes or scheming black widow spider out to suck the hearts and bank accounts of every man? You be the judge in this novel based on the very real gold digger. Great fun but you will be tempted to laugh at how gullible these men and women were and how wronged May felt after being sued time and time again. The novel flips back and forth between May's exploits and twenty years later in 1917 at her trial. This is the debut novel for Maryka Biaggio who I would say has found her niche in exciting historical fiction.
    • 5/5
      May Dugas is a woman trying to get by in a man's world by using the only asset she has, her sex appeal. She starts out as prostitute but moves up to the station of wife of a European Barron. Always one step away is Pinkerton detective Reed Dougherty waiting in the wings to mess up her plans. As May travels the world through the years she embarks upon adventure after adventure and always with new man (or woman) who can provide the wealth she desires. May is what we would call a grifter but since she is telling the story that word is not one that is used. May is an unreliable narrator who charms the reader as much as her cons. May would have you believe that she is merely a woman who has been unlucky in love. It would have been interesting to read the story through the marks point of view. As it is we do hear from one, Miss Frank Shaver who is suing the Baroness in a court of law. The recount of the trial is interspersed with May's globetrotting adventures. I loved, loved, loved, this book. Once I started it I could not put it down. One of the blurb's for the book was written by Daisy Goodwin, author of The American Heiress another novel I really enjoyed. If you too are a fan of the heiress grab this right away. It's as luxurious as a box of Godiva chocolates with a glass of champagne.
    • 4/5
      The story of a globe-trotting, beautiful bisexual fin de siècle con artist... what could go wrong? Surprisingly little, considering that the writing's pretty clunky. But the story is a lot of fun. And actually for all the lack of sophistication in the actual writing, the psychological portrait of the (anti)heroine is a good one; the author holds back from painting her with too broad a brush. She's a psychologist (the author, that is), which may have helped—that's really what kept me reading. And I don't mean to damn with faint praise, because I did like the book. But if I had to sit through one more description of someone's facial features, clothing, or the sumptuous room they were in as soon as they were introduced and not have enjoyed the action, I would have thrown it across the room early on.
    • 4/5
      When I think of the most dangerous woman in America, the last person I think about is a wannabe socialite from Menominee, Michigan. But that is exactly what the Pinkerton Detective Agency dubbed our protagonist May Dugas.This novel is deliciously entertaining. I really loved the cat and mouse game between May and Reed Doherty, the Pinkerton detective. Just when I had forgotten about him, he would pop up to foil May’s plan once again. I also loved reading May’s adventures. She was quite the world traveler. I loved her moxie and her opportunistic ways. She never gave up and did what she had to in order to have a better life. She was selfless in the way that these desires extended to her family as well. She wanted a better life for them. I think that is what I enjoyed the most about this novel. May wasn’t this cunning dangerous woman, she was resourceful. Parlor Games has a wonderful cast of supporting characters. I especially loved the spunky Daisy and May’s husband, the respected Dutch Baron Rudolph de Vries. I love the stability the Baron offered May and Daisy was simply fantastic. Daisy is the one character that made me wish Parlor Games wasn’t written in first person. I would have loved to get inside Daisy’s head for a bit. Maybe Ms. Biaggio will take the foundation of Daisy and write another novel based on her. Yes, I would like that very much. Ms. Biaggio is a gifted writer however there were times when the transition from scene to scene wasn’t smooth. Also, the thing that wasn’t clear to me was May’s friendship with Frank. Their first go-around was recounted thoroughly however their second attempt at a friendship was told through court testimony only. I felt a little cheated. I wanted to know May’s point of view and that lack of knowledge made it very difficult for me to side with her. The author added much vivid detail yet at times, glazed over the minor things that would have really pulled the story together, mainly what exactly happened with May and Frank.I thoroughly enjoyed this novel up until the end. I had rooted for May throughout Parlor Games but in the end, I was left shaking my head in wonder if she really was cunning and deceitful. Maybe that is the point. Once May stopped talking and weaving a web of lies, all that is left is fact and truth. And the truth is maybe the Pinkerton Detective Agency is right.
    • 4/5
      s Baroness May de Vries really, as the Pinkerton Agency dubbed her, The Most Dangerous Woman in the World, a con-artist and swindler of the first degree or is she simply a successful gold-digger unjustly accused and hounded by the famous agency? Based on an actual historical figure, Maryka Biaggio's novel Parlor Games brings this fascinating, opportunistic, and possibly criminal woman to life. When the novel opens, she is standing trial for extortion in her hometown of Menominee, Michigan. The charges are not being brought against her by one of her many inamoratos but instead by a female friend, Miss Frank Slater, who is accusing May of running through Frank's entire inheritance and then dropping her like a hot potato once the money was gone. How will the jury rule when faced with this glamorous, titled, once native daughter and the facts of the case? Born May Dugas, to a tavern keeper and a seamstress, she's spent her life striving for the good and easy life, reaching for wealth and expensive baubles, champagne and caviar, European travels and the men who would provide the niceties for her, always looking for the bigger, better, wealthier sugar daddy. As the novel opens, she confidently declares that she intends to tell her story to the reader, certain that we readers will exonerate her from any wrongdoing whatsoever. Alternating between the testimony of the two week long trial and the events of her entire 48 years, May tells her story her way in both parts of this double-stranded narrative. As she tells her tale though, it becomes quickly and eminently clear that she is the epitome of an unreliable narrator. She blows through men, drawn only to the wealthiest in any given milieu starting with the son ofone of Menominee's first families whom she tells she's pregnant to the son of the wealthy Chicago family which first exposes her unscrupulous behaviour to the Pinkerton Agency to her Dutch Baron husband and many other men besides. After her false pregnancy, she turns to high class prostitution to earn a living, thinking only of sex as a means to an end. Because May is incredibly resourceful and crafty, she parlays the gifts from her clients into a facade of money and finagles her way into high society, where she uses her abundant charm and sexuality to entrap young men of money into gifts, promises, and engagements. Trailed by Pinkerton detective Reed Dougherty across multiple continents and through many different countries, May continues her pattern of reeling in a wealthy paramour and extracting favors and money before being driven ever onward by Dougherty. She is aided in her adventures and travels by a competent and thorough companion, Daisy Emmett. But when she uses Miss Frank Shaver to fund her extravagances, she might have met her match. May's contention to the reader is that she is truly driven by love or affection for these boys and men and that it is only the unearned haranguing and harrassing by the Pinkerton detective that causes her to move on.May tells her story in a positively charming and chatty manner, always careful to suggest that while she was certainly interested in money and living a good life, that she was driven by the need to support her widowed mother, shiftless but handsome and engaging younger brother, and her stolid and unimaginative older brother. She embellishes and paints herself completely sympathetically in her telling of her own exploits, playing up her family responsibilities and the inexplicable ways in which men shower her with things out of their own initiative. Despite the fact that she comes across as quite conscienceless and self-centered, she is still eminently appealing to the reader. As the end of the book and the trial draw near, it is almost impossible to escape racing through the final pages to find out the outcome. If the end is completely riveting, the beginning is a bit slow going with the constant back and forth from the trial to May's early life making it difficult initially to settle into the story. The scandals left in May's wake are not particularly unique as she perpetrated the same thing time after time after time but it is interesting to see how many people she took in over a twenty or so year span and how events conspired to keep her untouchable for so long. Over all, this was a very enjoyable read, well-written and entertaining. Fans of historical fiction certainly will thrill to a ride through May Dugas' busy and chic life.