Tiger Girl and the Candy Kid: America’s Original Gangster Couple

A thrilling Jazz Age chronicle of America's first gangster couple, Margaret and Richard Whittemore

Before Bonnie and Clyde there was Tiger Girl and the Candy Kid - smarter, more successful and better looking. In the wake of war, a pandemic, and an economic depression, Margaret and Richard Whittemore, two love-struck working-class kids from Baltimore reached for the dream of a better life. In the heart of the Jazz Age, they headed up a gang that in less than a year stole over one million dollars' worth of diamonds and precious gems - over fifteen million dollars today.

Margaret was a chic flapper, the archetypal gun moll/femme fatale, supporting her husband and his crimes in every way, Richard the quintessential bad boy whose cunning and violent amorality turned their dreams into reality and allowed the Whittemores to live the kind of life they'd only seen in the movies. Along the way he killed at least three men. And when he promised to confess if she were set free, they became heroes to a generation of young Americans, making headlines all across the country as the tabloids breathlessly reported the details of their star-crossed romance.

Set against the backdrop of the excesses of the RoaringTwenties, their story takes us from the jailhouse to the speakeasy, from the cabarets where they celebrated good times to the gallows where their story finally came to an end… and left Tiger Girl pining for a final kiss. Tiger Girl and the Candy Kid is a tale of rags to riches, tragedy and infamy.