Showing The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith

Tom Ripley is struggling to stay afloat, financially and socially, in 1950s New York. Having failed at several jobs, he is dabbling in small-time fraud and living on the charity of friends. One day, a chance encounter results in him travelling to Italy, supposedly to persuade Dickie Greenleaf, the playboy son of a shipping magnate, to come home. Dickie's charm and lifestyle prove irresistible to Ripley and he embarks on a path from which there is no going back . . .

The Talented Mr Ripley is the unforgettable introduction to this debonair anti-hero, whose talent for self-invention and calculated murder is further chronicled in four subsequent novels, Ripley Under Ground, Ripley's Game, The Boy Who Followed Ripley and Ripley Under Water.