Set in the New York Stock Exchange world of love, adultery, high finance, and betrayal, presents a character study of a Wall Street man who embezzles money during the Depression.

A bank employee’s wife teams up with his boss—with fatal results—in this noir novella by the legendary author of The Postman Always Rings Twice. Despite an ulcer that requires surgery, workaholic Charles Brent doesn’t want to take time off from his job as a head teller at the bank. What eventually convinces him to give in and take a break is the prospect of his young wife, Sheila, temporarily taking over his responsibilities. Then, in Charles’s absence, his wife and his boss discover the embezzlement he’s been hiding—and the reason behind it. But instead of reporting Charles, the two form a pact . . . Originally published under the title Money and the Woman, The Embezzler is a standout novella from James M. Cain, celebrated crime writer and master of the noir thriller. “James M. Cain is one novelist who has something to teach just about any writer, and delight just about any reader.” —Anne Rice, #1 New York Times–bestselling author of Interview with a Vampire “One of the greats of American noir.” —The Guardian

When Armani Vasquez is ripped off by her financial advisor, she recruits her good friend (and occasional assassin) Maggie Lee, to help her track him down. Piling into Armani’s RV with a know-it-all lizard, an airhead Doberman pinscher, a one-eyed cat, a nervous mouse (and an unexpected stowaway) Maggie and Armani embark on an adventure to recover Armani’s money and bring the embezzler to justice. What could go wrong?

Three powerful men converge on the banks of the Red Cedar River in the early 1900s in southern Minnesota—George Albert Hormel, founder of what will become the $10 billion food conglomerate Hormel Foods; Alpha LaRue Eberhart, the author’s paternal grandfather and Hormel’s Executive Vice President and Corporate Secretary; and Ransome Josiah Thomson, Hormel’s comptroller. Over ten years, Thomson will embezzle $1.2 million from the company’s coffers, nearly bringing the company to its knees. The Butcher, The Embezzler, and The Fall Guy opens in 1922 as George Hormel calls Eberhart into his office and demands his resignation. Hailed as the true leader of the company he’d helped Hormel build—is Eberhart complicit in the embezzlement? Far worse than losing his job and the great wealth he’d rightfully accumulated is that his beloved young wife, Lena, is dying while their three children grieve alongside. Of course, his story doesn’t end there. In scale both intimate and grand, Cherington deftly weaves the histories of Hormel, Eberhart, and Thomson within the sweeping landscape of our country’s early industries, along with keen observations about business leaders gleaned from her thirty-five-year career advising top company executives. The Butcher, The Embezzler, and The Fall Guy equally chronicles Cherington’s journey from blind faith in family lore to a nuanced consideration of the three men’s great strengths and flaws—and a multilayered, thoughtful exploration of the ways we all must contend with the mythology of powerful men, our reverence for heroes, and the legacy of a complicated past.

Like Francis Prescott in The Rector of Justin, Guy Prime enjoyed the distinction of having become a legend in his lifetime. But in Guy's case, the legend is one of betrayal and infamy. For the scandal of his embezzlement brought down the delicately balanced structure of the Stock Exchange. The long-honored system of self-government by mutual trust among gentlemen came to an end with the default of one of its brightest stars. The story of Guy's fall is told by the three persons most intimately concerned: Guy himself, Rex Geer, his closest friend, and Angelica, his wife. We see him first through his own eyes — embittered, oddly proud of his peculiar distinction, and entirely unrepentant — the golden boy, the Wall Street manipulator, and finally the old man determined to justify himself to the grandchildren he will never see. Rex and Angelica in turn pick up the same threads of the story, but the threads change color subtly as they pass through different hands. In the end, the reader must decide for himself which is the real Guy Prime. Louis Auchincloss brings to the financial world the same authority and understanding he brought to the worlds of the law (Powers of Attorney), the private school (The Rector of Justin), and the old families of New York (Portrait in Brownstone). Virgilia Peterson, writing in the New York Times Book Review, called The Rector of Justin "not only a passionately interesting, but a spiritually important study of the American character of, and for our time." Her words hold true for The Embezzler.

Using recent research and case studies, this book offers an evidence-based insight into the embezzler’s mindset as they commit crimes that are costing nations, organisations and individuals increasingly more each year. This mindset is described in detail as the embezzler develops their motivation to steal from their employer, finds a method of stealing, assesses the risks, executes the theft, and then determines whether to continue to steal. The organisational landscape of security capabilities, culture and financial circumstances provide the environment that this mindset operates within. The embezzler’s approach to the crime is broken down into four stages: Pre-Existing Vulnerabilities, Induction to First Theft, Ongoing Theft and Detection to Resolution. The author recommends strategies based on the embezzler’s mindset for organisations to enhance their ability to protect themselves from such inside threats that attack their reputation, productivity, morale and, in the worst cases, financial viability.