S07.48: Con Artists & Criminals With Joanna Shupe

Joanna Shupe joins us this week to celebrate her new book, The Gilded Heiress, and talk about one of our favorite things—baddies with a heart of gold! We talk about the book, about our mutual love of criminals, of noble scoundrels, of con artists and basically anyone willing to do crime in the name of love. We also talk about how everything Gilded Age is back again, which…ugh. We love Joanna and her book – come see us with her in Chicago on August 28th and in Brooklyn on September 9th.

You can get The Gilded Heiress right now in print, ebook or audio at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or wherever you get your books. 

If you want more Fated Mates in your life, please join our Patreon, which comes with an extremely busy and fun Discord community! Join other magnificent firebirds to hang out, talk romance, and be cool together in a private group full of excellent people. Learn more at patreon.com. 

Notes

• Welcome Joanna Shupe, who writes mafia romance as Mila Finelli. Next week, her historical The Gilded Heiress comes out next week. Earlier this summer, she released her latest in the New York State of Mafia series, Empire of Seduction. You can see her on book tour starting the week of August 26th, including with Jen in Chicago on August 28th. 
• Pinkertons & Bow Street Runners were early cops and private investigators. 
• Check out Joanna’s TikTok, which explores how the history of the Gilded Age is very relevant again: Tariffs are pretty bad, actually; the attempt to build an all white town in Arkansas, inspired by Apartheid South Africa, you can learn about Sundown Towns, Redlining, and racist housing covenants. 
• Al Swearengen is a character on the show Deadwood based on a real person.
• The Gilded Heiress pays homage to Anastasia the Disney movie, which is itself a retelling of the story of Anastasia Romanov. The novel also explores the famous crime of the kidnapped Lindbergh Baby.

Books

• Gilded Heiress by Joanna Shupe
• Empire of Seduction by Mila Finelli
• The Devil of Downtown by Joanna Shupe
• Any Old Diamonds by KJ Charles
• The Player by Kresley Cole
• Scoundrel, Take Me Away by Louisa Darling
• Faking It by Jennifer Crusie
• The Highwayman by Kerrigan Byrne
• Duke of Sin by Elizabeth Hoyt
• Baron by Joanna Shupe 
• A Good Rogue is Hard to Find by Kelly Bowen
• The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes by Cat Sebastian
• Hidden Sins by Selena Montgomery
• The Unwanted Wife by Natasha Anders
• Private Arrangements by Sherry Thomas
• The Windflower by Laura London
• Something Wilder by Christina Lauren
• Destiny’s Captive by Beverly Jenkins
• Captured by Beverly Jenkins
• To Catch a Raven by Beverly Jenkins

Sponsors: 

• Amy Andrews, Pippa Roscoe, Rachael Stewart and Clare Connelly, authors of The Karma Club series, available in print or ebook, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
• Maureen Lee Lenker, author of His Girl Hollywood, available in print, ebook or audiobook from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or wherever you get your books.
• Lumi Gummies, THC gummies available nationwide. Go to Lumigummies.com and use code FATEDMATES for 30% off. 

The Rest

• For even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2025/8/18/0748-criminals-and-noble-scoundrels-with-joanna-shupe
• If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as you do at patreon.com/fatedmates.
• Beyond your favorite podcast app, you can find us on