Son of a Grifter

A National Bestseller and Edgar Award nominee, Son of a Grifter is Kent Walker’s memoir about growing up with killer con artist Sante Kimes as a mother.

“Highly readable . . . truly horrific.” —Entertainment Weekly

In 1988 a troubled young man and his flamboyant mother were arrested for murdering a wealthy widow in her New York City mansion. Suddenly, America was transfixed by a pair of real-life film noir characters. The media couldn’t get enough of the twisted relationship between Sante Kimes and her twenty-three-year-old son Kenny.

But the most chilling story of all was never told—until now. Kent Walker, Sante’s elder son, reveals how he survived forty years of “the Dragon Lady’s” very special brand of motherly love and still managed to get away.

As a child Kent watched his mother destroy his hardworking father, Ed Walker, and then—with Kent’s painful collusion—snare what Sante called “my millionaire.” When she married seemingly respectable real-estate developer Ken Kimes, it was a match made in hell.

For the next two decades Kent’s mother and stepfather indulged in a globetrotting orgy of criminal behavior. Kent, their would-be recruit, was privy to the family business—torching houses, defrauding friends, crashing White House parties. When Kent’s half-brother, Kenny was born, Kent was twelve years old—old enough to know that he was his younger sibling’s only protector. Kent tried desperately to save Kenny from his mother’s sinister bidding. His failure haunts him to this day.

“One of the most engrossing true-crime accounts . . . Compelling.” —Booklist

“[Walker] does a fine job of elucidating the psychological and emotional price of being loved and cared for by a sociopath.” —Publishers Weekly