The most recommended books on fraud

Who picked these books? Meet our 20 experts.

20 authors created a book list connected to fraud, and here are their favorite fraud books.
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Book cover of The Honest Truth About Fraud: A Retired FBI Agent Tells All

Mary S. Schaeffer Author Of 127 Best Practices for Accounts Payable

From my list on to build excellence in accounting and finance.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m obsessed with spreading the word about best practices when it comes to the accounts payable function. It’s a lot more complicated than you might imagine – if you want to avoid fraud, excess costs, duplicate payments, problems with the IRS, etc. I regularly speak at both online and live events. As the host of the AP Now YouTube channel, I’m able to share opinions, interview industry thought leaders, and share the latest business intelligence needed to run an efficient, cost-effective accounts payable and payment function. I’ve written over 20 business books, most of them focusing on various aspects of the accounts payable function.

Mary's book list on to build excellence in accounting and finance

Mary S. Schaeffer Why did Mary love this book?

Fraud continues to plague the business community and learning out to deal with it is crucial, especially when it comes to putting a fraud protection framework in place.

Too often, organizations focus heavily on stopping small petty frauds, while leaving the door wide open for some of the more virulent frauds that can literally bring an organization to its knees. Think Enron, Worldcom, etc. Hartman worked on both and shares insights learned from these and other white-collar crimes he investigated while working for the FBI. 

By Victor E. Hartman,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Honest Truth About Fraud as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A retired FBI explains the current fraud threat picture that any individual or organization may face. Armed with this knowledge, the author walks the reader through the Fraud Live Cycle: Prevention, Detection, Investigation, Mitigation, and Remediation. This book has particular significance to the many professionals who are responsible for overseeing fraud-related issues, including auditors, general counsels, compliance officers, board members, human resource professionals, chief audit executives, heads of security, criminal and civil investigators, regulators, and frontline managers. The book is also used as a textbook for university students studying forensic accounting.

The book is also for the casual observer who…


Book cover of Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup

Why am I passionate about this?

As a hospital clinical lab director, I have a mission to promote the value of my profession. Are we more important than our soldiers protecting our country? Politicians who make laws? Judges who help maintain law and order? I argue that the health of our families is near or at the top of our priorities. While we ask our doctors to achieve this goal, they ask us every day to help them. The lab is not about boiling tubes and colored flasks. The 8 books I have written and the 5 that I have selected illustrate, in an entertaining manner, who we really are and why we matter.  

Alan's book list on learning how clinical labs really work and why this is important to you and your family

Alan H.B. Wu Why did Alan love this book?

Mr. Carreyrou was the Wall Street Journal reporter who broke the story that eventually led to the downfall of Elizabeth Holmes, CEO of Theranos. At its peak, this company was worth over $9 billion. Today, Holmes and her former COO have been convicted of fraud and are serving time.

I like this book because it serves as a curriculum for how NOT to operate a biotech company. It shows that while belief in your vision is essential for all successful entrepreneurs, there is no place for secrecy and arrogance in the business world.

Unfortunately, the “Theranos” effect has led to a decline in investment in new medical technology and has had a negative effect on the value of clinical laboratories.

By John Carreyrou,

Why should I read it?

5 authors picked Bad Blood as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The shocking true story behind The Dropout, starring the Emmy award-winning Amanda Seyfried, Naveen Andrews and Stephen Fry.

'I couldn't put down this thriller . . . a book so compelling that I couldn't turn away' - Bill Gates

Winner of the Financial Times/McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award 2018

The full inside story of the breathtaking rise and shocking collapse of Theranos, the multibillion-dollar biotech startup founded by Elizabeth Holmes, by the prize-winning journalist who first broke the story and pursued it to the end, despite pressure from its charismatic CEO and threats by her lawyers.

In 2014,…


Book cover of A Beautiful Crime

Rachel Cochran Author Of The Gulf

From my list on queer mystery and crime books.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a queer writer who lovers to read and write mystery and crime fiction. The history of these genres is often full of homophobic stereotypes and scapegoating of queer characters. While I think it’s important to show queer characters as flawed, I also want to make sure to celebrate the contributions of queer writers to these messy, wonderful genres.

Rachel's book list on queer mystery and crime books

Rachel Cochran Why did Rachel love this book?

This book deserves all the comparisons to Patricia Highsmith’s The Talented Mr. Ripley—but despite the similarities of the setting and genre, it’s so much more than an imitation.

The story is unique and unbearably tense. While I read, I felt like I was watching a Hitchcock movie: the dread and apprehension felt so palpable and painful that I had to keep reading because I couldn’t stand not knowing how it would turn out. 

By Christopher Bollen,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked A Beautiful Crime as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

An L.A. Times Book Prize Finalist | An O Magazine Best Book of the Year

“Stylish… a compelling take on the eternal question of how good people morph into criminals. Terrific.”—People, Book of the Week

From the author of The Destroyers comes an "intricately plotted and elegantly structured" (Newsday) story of intrigue and deception, set in contemporary Venice and featuring a young American couple who have set their sights on a risky con.

When Nick Brink and his boyfriend Clay Guillory meet up on the Grand Canal in Venice, they have a plan in mind—and it doesn’t involve a vacation.…


Book cover of The Grownup: A Story by the Author of Gone Girl

Roz Watkins Author Of The Devil's Dice

From my list on both dark and funny.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a writer, and an enthusiastic reader, of crime fiction. And although I love dark fiction, I’ve realised that subtle humour is the spice that takes a book to the next level for me. Whether it’s a turn of phrase that makes me guiltily cheer along or an interaction with a partner or colleague that makes me wince with recognition, I love dark books that make me smile! These are some of my favourites – I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

Roz's book list on both dark and funny

Roz Watkins Why did Roz love this book?

This is actually a short story rather than a novel, but there’s enough plot and character for a full novel. The story opens with this announcement: ‘I didn’t stop giving hand jobs because I wasn’t good at it. I stopped giving hand jobs because I was the best at it. For three years, I gave the best hand job in the tristate area.’ How can you not read on? The unnamed narrator is damaged, cynical, funny, and extremely unreliable. 

By Gillian Flynn,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Grownup as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A young woman is making a living faking it as a cut-price psychic (with some illegal soft-core sex work on the side). She makes a decent wage mostly by telling people what they want to hear. But then she meets Susan Burke.

Susan moved to the city one year ago with her husband and 15-year-old stepson Miles. They live in a Victorian house called Carterhook Manor. Susan has become convinced that some malevolent spirit is inhabiting their home. The young woman doesn't believe in exorcism or the supernatural. However when she enters the house for the first time, she begins…


Book cover of Billion Dollar Whale

Kimberly Kay Hoang Author Of Spiderweb Capitalism: How Global Elites Exploit Frontier Markets

From my list on global financial elites.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a professor of sociology at the University of Chicago, and I am interested in global capitalism, financial elites, and all aspects of how people broker capital deals. I am a scholar of anti-heroes who studies all of the ways that people play in the gray. My first book, Dealing in Desire, is an ethnography where I embedded myself in several different hostess bars to study the relationship between sex work and financial deal-making. I grew up in California but have lived most of my adult life in Ho Chi Minh City, Houston, Boston, and Chicago. 

Kimberly's book list on global financial elites

Kimberly Kay Hoang Why did Kimberly love this book?

I loved this book because it is such an incredible example of brave journalism that exposes one of the biggest global financial scandals in history. The book outlines an intricate web of corruption involving a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund. It draws connections between Malaysia, Singapore, the Middle East, and the United States of America.

I love how they tell the story of an awkward schoolboy who finds a way to make it in with some of Hollywood’s biggest celebrities and some of the most reputable financial institutions, like Goldman Sachs. The book also shows who the “fall people” are, who bear all of the criminal risks while the mastermind, Jho Low, has not been caught. 

By Tom Wright, Bradley Hope,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Billion Dollar Whale as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In 2009, with the dust yet to settle on the financial crisis, a fraud of unprecedented gall and magnitude was being set into motion. It began in Malaysia and would spread around the world, touching some of the world's leading financial firms, A-list Hollywood celebrities, supermodels, Las Vegas casinos and nightclubs, and even the art world. Now known as the 1MDB affair, the scandal would come to symbolize the next great threat to the global financial system.

Federal agents who helped unravel Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme say the 1MDB affair will become the textbook case of financial fraud in the…


Book cover of Elsewhere: A Memoir

Bill Scheft Author Of Shrink Thyself

From my list on that make me feel like an absolute fraud.

Why am I passionate about this?

Why do I use the word “fraud?” The answer is agonizingly simple. My whole life, and I mean since I was ten, I wanted to be “a real writer.” Whatever that was. And now here we are, 55 years later. Despite my great good fortune to spend 24 years coming up with jokes for Dave Letterman, three years as a columnist at Sports Illustrated, and to have my name on four novels, if you asked me, “Are you a real writer?” I would tell you, “not yet….” Here are five real writers.

Bill's book list on that make me feel like an absolute fraud

Bill Scheft Why did Bill love this book?

A memoir of his mother and his life in Glovershville, New York from the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist. It is utterly unfair that such a singular writer of fiction can be this deft at non-fiction. The best piece of advice I ever got as a writer was “Make your characters complicated…” Some characters, like Jean Russo, come complicated out of the factory. (By the way, Russo is a friend, and once told me at a book event in his honor that he felt like a fraud. So, I am in fine company). 

By Richard Russo,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Elsewhere as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist turns to memoir in this "intimate and powerful" account (Chicago Tribune) of his lifelong bond with his high-strung, spirited mother—and the small town she spent her life trying to escape. 

Anyone familiar with Russo’s novels will recognize Gloversville—once famous for producing nine out of ten dress gloves in the United States. By the time Rick was born, ladies had stopped wearing gloves and Gloversville was on its way out. Jean Russo instilled in her son her dream of a better life elsewhere, a dream that prompted her to follow him across the country when he went…


Book cover of The Breach: The Untold Story of the Investigation Into January 6th

Daniel C. Hellinger Author Of Conspiracies and Conspiracy Theories in the Age of Trump

From my list on separating conspiracy fact from fiction in American politics.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a political scientist, a professor emeritus at Webster University, with scholarly publications about Latin American and U.S. politics. My interest in conspiracy theories was piqued by a reviewer who dismissed my book on the “democratic façade” of U.S. politics as a “conspiracy theory.” I took umbrage and denied being a “conspiracy theorist.” Years later, conversing with a colleague about Oliver Stone’s JFK, I dismissed his doubts about the lone gunman theory as a conspiracy theory. He asked whether I would similarly dismiss questions about official stories regarding assassinations in South Asia or Latin America. This all set me on the path to studying the role of conspiracies.

Daniel's book list on separating conspiracy fact from fiction in American politics

Daniel C. Hellinger Why did Daniel love this book?

I’ve read the House Committee Report on the January 6 insurrection, so I doubted there was much “untold,” especially relayed by a former ultra-right House Freedom Caucus member. But Riggleman, chief technical advisor for the House Committee that investigated January 6, adds background and insight not found in the Committee Report.

As an Air Force Intelligence officer and NSA surveillance export, Riggleman is now viewed by the radical right as part of the deep state. Perhaps we need to change how we think about “deep state.” Riggleman uses his intelligence skills to pry open secrets that the Trump White House sought to conceal. 

By Denver Riggleman, Hunter Walker,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Breach as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Make no mistake: modern information warfare is here and January 6th was just the first battle. That day, an unhinged mindset led to an attack on the Capitol, the most serious assault on American democracy since the end of the Civil War. And that thinking portends even darker days ahead.

In The Breach, a former House Republican and the first member of Congress to sound the alarm about QAnon, Denver Riggleman, provides readers with an unprecedented behind-the-scenes look at the January 6th select committee's investigation. Riggleman, who joined the committee as senior technical advisor, lays out the full intent and…


Book cover of A Talent For War

Richard Paolinelli Author Of Escaping Infinity

From my list on superversive fiction.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am both a writer and a publisher of Superversive fiction. Even before I encountered the term and the official definition of it, my fiction writing has always tended to be Superversive. Which makes sense as I am drawn to Superversive stories as a reader. I want to read and write about heroes and heroines. I want to be drawn into incredible universes and taken along on amazing adventures. I want stories where evil appears to be winning but good eventually finds a way to triumph in the end.  

Richard's book list on superversive fiction

Richard Paolinelli Why did Richard love this book?

Partially because I credit Jack for inspiring me to give my own fiction writing one more try when I decided to retire from sports writing. Having read this book and being hooked on the entire series, I read about his life’s journey and saw many similarities to mine. As for the book itself, the thought of how future archaeologists would approach their craft on a galactic scale, and how solving ancient mysteries could impact current events so, really captured my imagination.

By Jack McDevitt,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked A Talent For War as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Jack McDevitt's A TALENT FOR WAR takes Alex Benedict into the heart of an alien galaxy in a thrilling interstellar adventure. 'A real writer has entered our ranks, and his name is Jack McDevitt' Michael Bishop, Nebula-winning author

Everyone knows the legend of Christopher Sim. An interstellar hero with a rare talent for war, he changed
mankind's history forever when he forged a rag-tag group of misfits into the weapon that broke the alien Ashiyyur.

But now, in a forgotten file, Alex Benedict has found a startling piece of information. If it is true, then Christopher Sim was a fraud.…


Book cover of Beat the Fraudster: How to Easily Protect Yourself Online and Offline

Paul Lewis Author Of Money Box: Your Toolkit for Balancing Your Budget, Growing Your Bank Balance and Living a Better Financial Life

From my list on money and your life.

Why am I passionate about this?

I realised in my twenties that there were millions of people who desperately needed advice about their money but could not afford an accountant or an adviser. Since then my passion has been to simplify the deliberately complex financial world, explain the obscure and often unintelligible rules about tax, childcare, benefits, investment, savings, and borrowing. Recently as the tsunami of fraud has swept across the UK I have devoted more time to help people avoid losing money to scammers – both criminal and respectable. Most people can’t afford professional advice, but they can afford me – I’m freely available in print, on air, and online. 

Paul's book list on money and your life

Paul Lewis Why did Paul love this book?

Fraud is now 40% of all crime. It is the crime we are most likely to come across. Yet the authorities seem powerless to stop it. This book explains how frauds work and, armed with that knowledge, how to prevent them happening to you. Doug has years of experience and understands the world of fraud as well as any fraudster. Read it and keep safe. 

By Doug McAdam,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Beat the Fraudster as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Email protection, PayPal security, web browser attacks... how to prevent cybercrime and protect your digital self from being a target of scammers.

Not all frauds require your participation. Whilst scams require you to fall for their ruse, other frauds occur in the background completely without your knowledge or consent, such as identity theft.

Whilst millennials and the elderly are statistically at a higher risk, due to lack of life experience or technological advancements, fraudsters often actively target business owners aged between 30-60 as they often have better credit ratings. Even high-ranking police officers and fraud specialists have fallen victim. Anyone…


Book cover of Managing the Risk of Fraud and Misconduct: Meeting the Challenges of a Global, Regulated and Digital Environment

Mónica Ramírez Chimal Author Of Don't Let Them Wash, Nor Dry!: A Simple and Easy Guide to Protect Your Company from the Risk of Money Laundering

From my list on tackling money laundering risk.

Why am I passionate about this?

The prevention of money laundering caught my attention, and at that time, with so little information on the market, I decided to write my first book so that more people can protect themselves from this crime. I have a gift: explain complicated topics in an easy way. This has helped me to write several articles on different topics in international magazines. I’m a passionate-effective trainer who believes that helping people to grow helps to make this world better. It’s my legacy! I like to do the right thing; take this as a reliable fact: I consult my own book and articles written. I hope to help you grow too!

Mónica's book list on tackling money laundering risk

Mónica Ramírez Chimal Why did Mónica love this book?

I worked at Arthur Andersen, and I was selected to be among the few teams that started to understand, learn, and apply risk assessments or business risk management methodology. In this book, I came across these concepts again, which are vital to identifying where the risk of money laundering and any other crime may occur. In addition, this book also includes useful information to be considered in the compliance program and how fraud and corruption are related to money laundering. It's a book that provides solid knowledge.

By Richard Girgenti, Timothy Hedley,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Managing the Risk of Fraud and Misconduct as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Praise for Managing the Risk of Fraud and Misconduct: Meeting the Challenge of a Global, Regulated, and Digital Environment

"This book belongs on any desk where fraud and misconduct threaten. It is bristling with the kind of detail this field truly needs. Written by leading pros at the top of their game, its soup-to-nuts advice matches solutions to problems. Read it once to gain broad insight; come back again and again to manage particular risks."
Thomas Donaldson, Professor of Legal Studies and Business Ethics,Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania

"A valuable road map for corporate fraud fighters in an…


Book cover of The Honest Truth About Fraud: A Retired FBI Agent Tells All
Book cover of Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup
Book cover of A Beautiful Crime

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