In 1971, McGraw-Hill prepared to publish the authorized autobiography of Howard Hughes, with one problem: Hughes had no idea it existed. This episode traces Clifford Irving, the novelist who nearly pulled off the greatest literary hoax in modern history.

We follow his respectable pedigree, his apprenticeship in deception alongside art forger Elmyr de Hory, and his bet that a reclusive Hughes would never break his isolation to denounce a fake, a gamble that fooled publishers, handwriting experts, and Swiss banks.

• Forging Hughes's handwriting from letters printed in a magazine
• The "recluse loophole" at the center of the scheme
• His wife Edith cashing checks as "Helga R. Hughes" in Switzerland
• Hughes's 1972 phone conference that collapsed the hoax
• His prison sentence and later fury at Hollywood's versi ...