family was torn apart by the crime of the twenty-first century—elder fraud. Anderson’s mother is suffering from Alzheimer’s when she falls victim to a group of women, including a neighbor, a supermarket clerk, and a lawyer, that takes everything from her. After managing to get legal guardianship due to the courtroom prowess and suppression of evidence by the group’s lawyer member, the criminals manage to empty the elderly woman’s bank accounts, change her will, and isolate her from the rest of her family. A month later, Anderson’s mother winds up in the hospital, where the group insists she submit to a surgery that five different doctors warn will likely kill her. Robbed of the chance to say good-bye to the mother she loved, Anderson uses her background as an investigative journalist in an attempt to expose the fraud and reinstate her mother’s original will. The Stealing of Joy serves as a potent warning for all those whose elderly loved ones may be at risk and offers guidance on how to fight against elder fraud.

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