Cathy Koning

I have had a varied work life. I briefly worked as a secondary school teacher after graduating with an arts degree from Latrobe University in Melbourne Australia. As a theatre production photographer I toured Europe with Nigel Triffitt’s Momma’s Little Horror Show and captured many performances at Melbourne’s Last Laugh Theatre Restaurant. After a stint as a cinema publicist I founded a successful gardening business and then ran a Sustainable Communities Program for two rural shires. Everything changed in 2012 with an Acute Myeloid Leukaemia diagnosis.

I am the caretaker of a fascinating archive of theatrical memorabilia belonging to my husband’s great-aunt, Australian soprano and vaudeville artist, Dorothy Rudder. During my recovery I had the opportunity to write her biography, titled Dainty Diva. I followed up with Life Blood: Lessons from one woman who survived serious illness against the odds.

I self-published Hoodwinked: The Extraordinary Life and Times of American Con Artist Peter Grimes in May 26. The adventure commenced when I came across two intriguing letters in Dorothy’s archive. I discovered she had a romantic interlude in Borneo in 1919 with a gentleman called P. A. Grimes. Although she was unaware of this, Dorothy had crossed paths with a famous con man who left many victims in his wake.

In Hoodwinked I explore the historical context, Peter Grimes’ background and motivations, and ask why ordinary life was never going to be an option for him.

Drawing on some years of extensive archival research, I uncovered Grimes’ mind-bending number of made up identities, including a pioneering flying ace, a spy working both for and against the Manchu Dynasty, beriberi expert from Christmas Island, and wealthy Belgian sugar entrepreneur, to name just a few.

Peter Grimes was the ultimate chameleon who took his cue for his next adventure from current events, new technologies, and even other con artists. Prison was no deterrent whatsoever. In one headline-grabbing stunt Grimes even drugged and substituted an innocent Norwegian sailor for himself in order to escape a second prison term in San Quentin. A top-level US government cover-up followed, kept hidden until now, as was Grimes’ highly secretive, and highly profitable, bootlegging ventures with racketeers Waxey Gordon and Frank Costello during Prohibition.