I was alternating between 3 and 4 stars as I really wanted to give 3.5 so I rounded up based on the amount of research and details the author had to keep track of. Those same details about the promissory notes and bank checks and trusts made it a little hard to follow sometimes, but I have never heard of Cassie Chadwick before and her overall schemes and how she maneuvered them were interesting to read about.

The Imposter Heiress by Annie Reed tells the fantastical story of Cassie Chadwick, a legendary con-artist of the Gilded Age. This story is so hard to believe, yet it’s completely true. But honestly, in most con artist stories, arent they always a little incredulous?


I had first come across Cassie Chadwick a few months ago, when theories started to abound that the character of Maud Beaton on The Gilded Age (HBO) was based on the infamous grifter. I had never heard of Cassie before, so I began to do a little research. Born to a small town, Cassie always dreamed of having more…more of everything! Her cons started small. She lived unconventionally for a women of her time, even bearing a child out of wedlock. Eventually, her scams failed, and she had a stint in the penitentiary. However, she didn’t waste her time, but used it to strengthen her plans and focus on where she went wrong. As her plans changed and grew, so did her desire for me. Using her “feminine wiles” Cassie began to target those who thought she really didn’t know what to do when it came to money. And then she threw out those potent words, “Carnegie.” And from there, Cassie found herself living the high life. To find out more definitely pick up this book!

My only gripe with this book, and this more has to do with how women have always been treated in history, is a lot of the narrative focuses on the men who play roles in Cassie’s story.

You have to read to believe it. I highly recommend this novel for fans of Con Artists, the Gilded Age (show and time period), and fans of women’s history. These stories need to be told; women weren’t just background actors in history!

Thank you to Diversion Books and NetGalley for the E-Arc!

Reminiscent of Devil in the White City and Inventing Anna, The Imposter Heiress manages to be a historical true crime story about a thief that the audience is kind of rooting for. Targeting the wealthy and entire banks, Cassie accumulates the kind of wealth that would make the above-average Newport, Rhode Island resident blush. Scenes are painted of the exquisite velvet gowns, drawers full of jewels, extravagant trips to Europe, singing chairs, fine china with her face painted on it. Yet despite all of that opulence, Cassie exploited men that absolutely should have known better. She utilized their misogyny to rake in the dough.

Author Annie Reed is witty and informative while covering the life of Cassie Chadwick. While the unextraordinary lead up to Cassie’s crimes is covered, Reed knows we want to hear about the crimes, how she planned it, and the trial that followed. It would have been exceedingly easy to write the story of Cassie Chadwick to reflect a spoiled girl who plundered her way through Ohio with little regard for those who laid beneath the ruin. However, I found the humor which colored the stupidity of the men she swindled, and the impressive work that Cassie put into her grift to provide a much more entertaining story.

Afterall, girls just wanna have fun, right?

The Impostor Heiress is absolutely mind blowing.

Like how did she do it? How are people this gullible? Did they really think that she had the means, and that scandal hadn't been leaked prior?

Absolutely mind blowing, but Annie Reed is right, these names will be remembered, until the next one (in our case, it's presently Anna Delvey).

Mind blowing how simple her whole charade is/was.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for my E-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This book was such a fun read! Anna Delvey had nothing on our heroine as she cons her way through high society. The Imposter Heiress is A fast paced story about trying to survive on your wit. I loved it.

I loved that so much. Usually it's a bit hard for me to get through nonfiction in book format and not audiobook but this wasn't. Even though it's nonfiction it was written like a story which I guess most nonfiction is but I really liked how this was written. It was very interesting, Cassie Chadwick was so cool, I know that she did crimes which js bad but like sometimes I just wanna say I'm the spawn of Andrew carnagie and do a lot of fraud and have like 4 husbands and get all the jewelry with money I've gotten from fraud or husbands. Life goals tbh (except the part where she got caught), will prolly pick up a copy when it comes out.

At the turn of the century, Cleveland, Ohio, was home to more millionaires than any other city in the United States and, also, Cassie Chadwick. The cunning and clever Cassie was able to prey on bankers and businessmen who wildly underestimated her simply for being a woman. Duping her way into high society, fur coats, marriages and luxury European vacations, even Anna Delvy couldn’t scam her way into half of Cassie’s life. A beautifully written and well researched biography on the mother of the American con.

I really enjoyed the intertwined (but brief) narrative of Andrew Carneige’s life. The author richly paints a picture of class and social structures in the Gilded Age of America and how easily exploitable they were. The story has a lot of moving parts, addresses, and countless side characters but the author does a pretty good job of keeping the story flowing despite the complexity. I would have liked to hear more about the average person who lost their life savings or the Oberlin students who (temporarily) lost their tuition money.

Overall, a fun and interesting read. I would recommend to anyone who enjoys books about the Gilded Age and watching shows like the Tinder Swindler & Inventing Anna.

My Dream Cast:
Cassie Chadwick - Annette Bening

Thank you to Annie Reed, Diversion Books, and NetGalley for the book!

Feels like it would make a good Netflix series. I love reading about real life scandals that seem like they could be ripped from Hollywood. I would recommend.

I can not begin to tell you how much I loved everything about this book! One Last Summer by Kate Spencer is the quintessential summer rom-com~ Clara & Mack had amazing chemistry & I could not get enough of their banter. So so good- pick this one up for your next beach read!!

Thank you NetGalley & Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for the ARC copy of this book.

A lively story about a con artist. She must have been some charmer because her schemes did not seem that clever! Everyone was very real and the book read like fiction, even though it wasn't. That can be a plus or a minus but in this book it largely worked and only occasionally veered too far into the speculative.

This was such a good read! I was immediately sucked into the story and could not get enough of the characters. I went on a full emotional journey with these characters and I really enjoyed it. The book was easy to read and kept a good pace where I was never bored. I will be recommending this book to all of my friends and family.

Annie Reed had me hooked at that blurb: con artists, Gilded age equivalent of Anna Delvey? Consider me sold! I'm so fickle when it comes to these sorts of books, but I love them - and what a unique and interesting part of history! Reed tell's Cassie Chadwick's story with a flare for the dramatic, which suits the tone of who Cassie Chadwick was to a T. If you recently watched The Gilded Age TV show and came across this character and were left wanting more, then this book is definitely for you. Or if you just love hearing stories from the not so nice women of history!

“Face to face, she could remake a man's reality around him.”

If you remember anything about this con artist in furs and jewels, remember that: Cassie Chadwick can remake a man’s reality around him. This riveting account of the Gilded Age’s Anna Delvey is somehow both deliciously addictive and unsettling. Annie Reed brilliantly chronicles the creation of Cassie Chadwick in all of her Ponzi-esque glory. Chadwick (or shall we call her Bigley?) is no villain but a layered and complex subject who defies qualification, a woman in a man’s world and clearly enjoying it. What Reed does so well is craft a narrative that reads like fiction. Her characters are not flat historical figures but real and relatable. Cassie Chadwick is an impostor, a robber, and a queen of manipulation - but Reed’s adept storytelling makes Chadwick so much more. As Reed unravels the mishaps of this con artist, she connects us to history and sparks curiosity about the legacy that Chadwick left behind. There are questions about femininity, social mobility, and reputation that the book poses but does not necessarily answer. This may not be satisfying but it’s fascinating and exactly how good nonfiction should impact us. I finished the book and felt as if I knew so much about Cassie - and somehow I also felt that I knew nothing at all. A must read for readers with a voracious appetite for all things con, and for anyone who just can’t get enough of Anna Delvey. Four stars only because of some gaps that I felt like could use some filling in, particularly about her family of origin and her relationship with her son. Otherwise, I would eat this entire book up again with a spoon. Thank you to NetGalley and Diversion Books for the advance readers copy. All opinions are entirely my own.

This book is a very engaging account of a confidence fraudster. The author handled the biographical aspect masterfully.

I just don’t understand how she did it… was everyone in that day that gullible?! It would be interesting to see what kind of practices and changes were implemented in the banking world after such a scheme.

Annie Reed tells this story in a way that makes you feel like you’re reading a fictional tale. It is well written, captivating and a quick to flip page turner.

Kudos to the author shedding light on the successful manipulation of Cassie Chadwick in a way that made it almost fun to hate her. The restraint these men must have had to exercise when dealing with her, I can’t even imagine. It couldn’t have been me. I wanted to knock her out for about 80% of the book.

Had she not such an untimely demise, I wonder how far her cons could have taken her, she had the whole country-nee world, at her disposal.

Thank you to Annie Reed and NetGalley for this eARC

4.5 ⭐️

This was not my favorite but it was a pleasurable reading experience. Thanks to Annie Reed and NetGalley for this free e-arc

Thanks to Netgalley for this ARC.

I finished watching the second season of The Gilded Age a few months ago, and also listened to the official accompanying podcast. A character this season was based on Cassie Chadwick, the infamous swindler. I had never heard of Cassie and was definitely intrigued. When I saw this book I had to read it!

We follow Cassie from her early days in a small town to the culmination of her cons - posing as Andrew Carnegie's illegitimate daughter and cheating men out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Alternating chapters are told from Carnegie's point of view. It's fascinating watching her "work."

The author writes in her note that this is a work of "non fiction" but I have to disagree with that. Too many conjectures about conversations and emotions. The book was well-researched but sometimes became bogged down in the details. It's a tricky thing to have a main character who is so unsympathetic.

Three stars.

As the book itself ends, Ponzi, who? This was an absolutely wild story. Fake it till you make it for real. I had never heard of Cassie Chadwick before, and the number of people she managed to fool into giving her money is crazy. She kept getting caught and even went to jail and yet reached such crazy heights after that before everything finally crumbled.

This was such an entertaining read; thanks to NetGalley and Diversion Books for the ARC.

I received this book as an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to the author and publisher for this opportunity.

I enjoyed learning about Cassie and her scams but this book moved way too slow for my taste.

The Imposter Heiress:
Cassie Chadwick, The Greatest Grifter of the Gilded Age
Annie Reed
She was a woman of many identities. She traveled from town to town changing identities like most people change socks. She ran scams in each new town. While others worked for their money Cassie worked hard to swindl it from others. Her biggest scam was the Carnegie con. She managed to persuade many prominent men that she was Andrew Carnegie’s illegitimate daughter. They were all generous with their checkbooks, loaning her hundreds of thousands of dollars. She amassed a fortune from the scam, then the stock market crashed, and she was exposed. The newspapers called her the Queen of Swindlers, the Duchess of Diamonds, the High Priestess of Fraudulent Finance. The trial was spectacular, and the nation was fixated on it.
Author Annie Reed brings Cassie Chadwick to life on the pages of this book. This tale is based on actual facts. Well written and fascinating.
Thank you NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book for review purposes.