The Talented Miss Farwell

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Becky Farwell prides herself on doing a great job taking care of the funds for Pierson, Illinois, while stealing money to fund her art collecting habit. Her art aficionado persona is Reba Farwell, and she spirals out of control, taking more and more money to buy designer clothes, art, and even a condo in Chicago. Becky covers her activity by paying the money back into her work accounts with art sales. She goes from Chicago to NYC and back to Pierson with regularity for her art business.

Eventually, the market for fine art crumbles and Becky has trouble covering her debt to Pierson. She sees herself in high society photos in magazines and hopes no one in Pierson subscribes to these fancy publications. Eventually, the town is facing declaring bankruptcy and Becky starts to panic as the legal proceedings would expose her decades of creative accounting.

This book was listed as a mystery, and the only mystery is how Becky thinks she can get away with what she's doing. It's really more of a character study of a criminal.

The book spans around 40 years of Becky's life from high school onward. There aren't events driving the story, but Becky's crimes, covering for her thievery, and her thoughts about art and money. Emily Gray Tedrowe does a great job of examining Becky and her motives and feelings. Unfortunately, that type of book is not my cup of tea.

Allyson Ryan is a good narrator, but the story can be harder to follow in audio format because of the lists of transactions that are listed as a part of Becky's activity. These would be great details in print, but in the audiobook they detract from the story.

I want to slap Becky. At first, she refers to her embezzlement as "activity" because she can't even admit to herself what she is doing. Becky steals an incredible amount of money from the town, puts some of it back, and congratulates herself when she pays for things out of her own secret fund. Well, where did the money come from Becky? The town! She resorts to hiring a PI to blackmail a man who finds out what she's up to instead of coming clean. Becky's only redeeming quality is her love for her friend Ingrid and Ingrid's daughter -- she buys them expensive presents like jewelry and a boy band poster signed by the members of the band.

Spoilers ahead!

Becky finally gets caught and she can't get out of it (is anyone surprised?) and she explains it away as a one-time occurrence. She starts to deteriorate physically - having hives, panic attacks, and pains in her back and chest. But still, she waits only 3 weeks before stealing money from Pierson again. Her health continues to become worse, and she loses interest in her art dealings, selling and acquiring pieces more slowly than normal. It's almost as if she knows that the end of her embezzlement is near.

Becky's downfall ends up as something simple, as it usually does. She has a procedure and forgets to pick up the work mail from the post office. When a temp opens the mail, the accounting department finds her odd bank statements. Becky goes to work one day to find the FBI waiting for her. The crazy thing is, she spends almost 2 years under house arrest and still doesn't feel any remorse for what she's done. It's not until the trial that she begins to understand how her activity has hurt many people, even though she managed to help a few.

It's irritating that Becky actually ends up enjoying prison after a few hard years. She teaches classes to the prisoners in personal finance and seems to be fulfilled.

Fans of true crime and the art world will enjoy reading this fictional account of a con artist. Readers who enjoy books more about the character than the plot will also enjoy this novel. Those looking for a quick, plot-driven read should look elsewhere.

Emily Gray Tedrowe is a book reviewer and writer living in Chicago. She has a Ph.D. in English literature from NYU.

Publisher: Harper Audio (audiobook), Custom House (hardcover)

Narrator: Allyson Ryan

Running time: 9 hours, 56 minutes

Release date: September 29, 2020

I received an electronic audio recording ARC of this title from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.