The Imposter Heiress: Cassie Chadwick, the Greatest Grifter of the Gilded Age

Paroled felon. Rich doctor’s wife. Famous clairvoyant. Cassie Chadwick, one of history’s most successful con artists, was a master of reinvention. In the dusk of the Gilded Age, she swept from town to town, assuming fresh identities to swindle a fortune so large that it rivaled the robber barons of the time.

Then came arguably the greatest con in American history. Using forged documents and her peerless wits, Cassie convinced prominent men from Cleveland to New York City that she was the illegitimate daughter of the world’s wealthiest man—Andrew Carnegie.

Businessmen loaned her hundreds of thousands of dollars at a time; the ensuing crash shattered banks and bankers alike. Her sensational trial made her a household name. The newspapers called her the “Queen of Swindlers,” the “Duchess of Diamonds,” the “High Priestess of Fraudulent Finance.”

Interspersing Cassie’s crimes with stories of an unsuspecting Andrew Carnegie, author Annie Reed spins an enthralling, page-turning tale of true crime. Long before Anna Delvey captivated national attention, there was Cassie Chadwick—mother of the American con.