The Mother, the Son, and the Socialite: The True Story of a Mother-Son Crime Spree

by Adrian Havill

The MotherOnce mistaken for a young Elizabeth Taylor, the weathered, 64-year-old Sante Kimes may have lost her movie-star good looks, but she never lost her pathological ambition to con, steal, and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312970692
• ISBN13: 9780312970697
• Release Date: April 1999
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Length: 244 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 4.2" x 6.7"

Customer Reviews

the mother, the son and the socialite

it was real good. ans sante kimes is hilarious the way she trys to look like liz taylor. she's the ultimate "embarrassing mom". and son kenny is also funny as the geeky mommas' boy gone wrong. the mother & son crime team should really consider becoming a comedy team with their quirks and antics. the part where sante crashes a government soiree in d.c with her husband is a laugh riot, also.

A study of deviant sociopaths at their worst

First of all, I don't agree with people who complain about too much background being given or, as one person called it, "historical meanderings." No wonder people think all Americans have the attention spans of fleas. I happen to LIKE "having the table set" first.As for Sante and Kenny...scary! I used to feel sorry for Kenneth, Sr. but after I read about the shabby treatment he accorded his first wife, I thought that, in Sante, he got what he deserved.Great read, hard to put down. Never fails to amaze me that there are people like that walking amongst the rest of us!

The Drifters Meet The Grifters In Psychotic Meglomania

A string of missing and murdered people. Dozens of false passports, rope and bloody trunks, tranquilizers and needles, and more than a few unpaid Cadillacs, this story is all the more shocking when one realizes this spree serves as a crash course in grifting - taught by mother to son. "Grifters" author Adrian Havill tells us "are the Einsteins of crime" and yes indeed that seems to be the case. Sante Kimes. Overweight, over-confident, overly made up and over bearing, she is the fat femme fatale, the Patron Saint of The Grifters. Her life spent rolling from scam to scam, save a three year prison stint for conviction of keeping her housekeeping help as "slaves" - locked in her home and under her rigid punishment system, Kimes was once thought of as a beautiful woman on the cusp of business and society. Along with her Norman Bates-like son Kenny, she wreaked havoc and murder across the country culiminating in the New York disappearance of eccentric, bubbly millionaire Irene Silverman. This is simply an incredible story and the book opens with a wondefully informative introduction which details the differences between drifters, grifters, serial killers, mass murderers, spree killers et al and helps set the stage for the reader to truly try to understand what makes this sick woman and her jittery son/probable lover tick. Well worth reading for the aficiandos of true crime in it's most bizarre form.

You Won't Put Book Down!

This book is simply the best. It's the story of a mother and son, con-artists who were only recently put away, presumably for "good." It's a truly bizarre tale, a story that has continued to capture the media attention even today.The things they did were simply unbelievable and will keep you on the edge of your seat. For instance, the son would go into a store and distract the salesman so the mother could steal whatever she wanted. They stole fur coats, expensive scarves, and son, anything they wanted. They were convicted of insurance fraud schemes, murdering an 80-yr-old woman just to get her $10 million mansion, and a host of other things.What's so weird is that these people were rich themselves; they didn't need to steal or con people for money.This book is better than any true crime book I have read, and I am true crime buff. The author really did some serious research in writing this story. I know you will be pleased with the read. In fact, I read it all in one setting. I kept telling myself that what I was reading indeed happened. I was so fascinated by the book that I spent 5 days researching the criminals on the net. Some things I liked about the book: non-stop action, short and detailed chapters, background just enough to keep you from getting confused, and because it left me spellbound, still saying to myself it all happened.Get this book. It doesn't cost much, and it will be worth the read.

Frightening study of people who care only about themselves.

Though I had read news accounts of Sante Kimes and her son's criminal exploits, this well written book tells how they became that way--i.e., people who'll do anything to get what they want--including killing apparently. More amazing to me is that they didn't need to enslave young women or steal fur coats because they were wealthy themselves. It seems they have personalities that can't be satisfied. You wouldn't want to meet this crime couple even on a bright sunny day. Smooth operators driven to satisfy themselves at everyone else's expense. It'll be interesting to see how many of the murders that they will have to face trial on. I hope the judges know to never let these people out to prey on others again.