Z's Reviews > The Impostor Heiress: Cassie Chadwick, The Greatest Grifter of the Gilded Age

Excellent, absorbing storytelling. The story of the slippery, status-obssessed Cassie Chadwick has been retold by some podcasters in our own era, but Annie Reed's skillful blend of solid research , historical context, and psychological framing gives this story a fresh feeling. The confidence scam is one that never seems to go away. Reed includes history about the U.S. financial system that explains why forgery and fraud made these scams so long and so successful. The author also suggests how Chadwick may not have seen herself as a criminal -- all she needed was for her chain of falsehoods to build new links, and she could puruse her life of luxury for just a bit longer. One fraud could be used to pay off another, and perhaps it would all come right in the end...wouldn't it? While we can never know for sure exactly what sort of delusions the false heiress had, Reed gives the reader some idea of how Chadwick, and by extension later scammers such as Anna Delvey, may justify their actions to themselves and courtoom juries. The audiobook version is excellent. Recommended.