I’m extremely interested in history in the gilded age is my favorite. This is an extremely fast paced book on
a provocative true story. Highly recommend!

Charlatans, shysters, and schemers have always existed, but Cassie Chadwick takes the cake. I had never heard of her, but was she ever a great liar. She convinced most of her peers she had money and then spent the money that foolish people and banks who financed her, based on nebulous credit, provided. She literary spent one bank into the ground. It was the era of excess, but even she was excessive.
The writing was solid and the story flowed smoothly. Some people are very gullible and were putty in this nefarious woman’s schemes. Who needs bank robbers when you have Cassie Chadwick?

2 stars
Not at all what I expected. I do feel there is a audience for this book. It is not for me. Thanks for the ARC of this book.

I thought I would enjoy this book more that I did given Im a fan of now little known gilded age stories. And I did enjoy it, just thought it was a bit disjointed and repetitious. Like a lot of books now a days, Hazelgrove flashes back and forth between the trial and the events leading up to the trial. This interrupts the flow of the book and makes it harder to follow. Would have liked the book to start at the beginning and end at the end.

I was hooked for this one when I read the tag line Gatsby-esque tale of mystery. As The Great Gatsby is one of my favorite books. But this was true crime as well. Granted historic true crime, but true crime. I'm a sucker for true crime no matter the time frame and I also love history. A Female con artist before people believed women could do such things.