Flash Jim by Kel Richards, HarperCollins

James Hardy Vaux’s teen gambling led him to three transportations to Australia. Born in England, his rich attorney grandfather paid for a fine education so he could seek a good career. But yearning for an “active” employ, he conned his way onto an RN frigate as a junior officer. On his first sailing to Botany Bay in 1801 his penmanship gains him Governor’s clerk. He wed in London in 1808 and his wife became his sidekick in crime. Vaux married twice more – a convict and his housekeeper back in Australia. Escaping the penal colony, he was transported a third time. He would write Vocabulary of the Flash Language (“flash” words passed between crooks) – to help Australian magistrates understand their lingo. A terrific tale which includes Vaux’s convict’s dictionary.