The Embezzler. James M. Cain. Avon Book Company, 1946. A Great Read!

I found this great book on employee embezzlement and bought it on-line.  Used, it cost me a few dollars.  The title – “The Embezzler.”

What a great book.  It is a simple story of a bank employee embezzling from the bank customer’s savings accounts, and how a superior bank employee discovers the theft.

What made this book and story interesting enough for me to start and finish it in one night, 160 pages, something I never do, is that the scheme and the details around the scheme, including how it was detected, quantified and supported, is as applicable to day as it was when this was first written, in 1936.  Just another example of how fraud really hasn’t changed over time.

The setting is interesting, being 1936, but the writer had accurate details on how this would have occurred, perhaps with the assistance of a subject expert at that time.  I may never know, given the age of the story, but substitute any one of my on-going existing embezzlements into this story, and I can see it still working as it did back then.

If the field of embezzlement and fraud is one that interests you, I highly recommend you read this book, if you are fortunate to find a copy still available.

A movie was produced in 1940 based on the book, called “Money and the Woman.”.  Here is a link talking about the book and movie:

http://booksintofilms.com/support-files2/cain4.htm

The Embezzler.  James M. Cain.  Avon Book Company, 1946.

3 thoughts on “The Embezzler. James M. Cain. Avon Book Company, 1946. A Great Read!”

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