Charles Lever's Davenport Dunn: A Man of Our Day (1857-59), which takes place after the Great Famine and the Crimean War, stands out as one of the finest novels about a swindling financier who rises to the heights of society before his fall. Dunn is said to be based on the notorious Irish politician and confidence man John Sadleir, whose duplicitous business practices at the height of the Railway Mania led directly to his suicide on Hampstead Heath. Illustrated by Charles Dicken's usual illustrator Hablot Knight Browne (also known as "Phiz"). -- Philip V. Allingham, (Victoria Web)