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Man Overboard: The Counterfeit Resurrection of Phil Champagne

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Man Overboard: The Counterfeit Ressurection of Phil Champagne is one of the best written true crime books out there. I would recommend it to anyone who is craving a good story with lots of twists and turns. From the first page Burl Barer has you hooked. A must read for any true crime fan. RECOMMENDED!

This true-crime story is told with humor, pacing and drama to rival the best fictional works. The writing is great, the "characters" are SUCH characters you cannot believe they are real, and the plot twists keep you turning pages all night long. This book is a blast!

1982: Oregon businessman Phil Champagne, age 52, dies in a tragic boating accident off Lopez Island. He is survived by one ex-wife, four adult children, an octogenarian mother, and two despondent brothers. Phil didn't know he was dead until he read it in the paper. All things considered, he took it rather well. So did Phil's brother, Mitch, the beneficiary of a 1.5 million dollar policy on Phil's life.

1992: Wastington restauranteur Harold Stegeman, famous for his thick, juicy steaks, is arrested by the Secret Service for printing counterfeit United States currency in an Idaho shed. In addition to the bogus bills, Stegeman also has a fraudulently obtained passport, a fabricated Cayman Island drivers license, and Phil Champagne's fingerprints.

When the uproarious reality of Harold Stegeman's secret identity hit the headlines, the counterfeit resurrection of Phil Champagne became one of the most celebrated and hysterically funny true-crime stories of the twentieth century. And while every supermarket tabloid and television talk show hounded after the untold story, only Edgar Award winner Burl Barer captured Champagne's confidence and received permission to detail Phil's post-mortem career of fraud, deception, trickery, lies, and fine prime rib, bringing to life the exploits of a man his family thought dead over a decade ago.
--- excerpt from book's dustjacket