Trophy wife Celeste Beard wasn't satisfied with a luxurious lifestyle and her rich Austin media mogul husband's devotion---so she took his life!
This is a true story. Good book

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How could so many men be so blind? I wouldn't have such luck. Guess you shouldn't really call it luck though. She's wicked, nasty, evil, and just about any other cruddy adjective one can think of. But, it's a good read. I finished it in 12 hours! Guess you could say I was kept interested.

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Gripping true story about a truly evil woman. This book is worth the read for the story, but the author is not the greatest writer. I noticed some poorly structured sentences as well as confusing use of pronouns.

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Horrible person. Good read! It has been on court tv.

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This is a page turner from beginning to end, you have to ask yourself what the hell is going through her head and what is it that makes some people slaves to this psyche in a person

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Good book! Good author! I had read a book on the Beard case by a different author, but this one was better.

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The cover blurb -- "a true story of sex, murder, and a Texas millionaire" -- pretty well says it all.

The main character, Celeste Johnson, already had a long history of marriage, divorce, infidelity, and child neglect when she bagged her biggest prize yet -- the much older Steven Beard, a recent widower with lots of money and a yen for the sexy blond waitress at his country club. The new Mrs. Beard, not content with making a substantial dent in her husband's multi-million-dollar fortune, decided she would be better off as a grieving widow, and enlisted the help of her latest lover, a woman she had met in a psychiatric hospital, to achieve that goal.

Author Casey cuts Celeste no slack as she chronicles the woman's history, which is replete with narcissistic and irresponsible actions and various convenient allegations of medical issues, usually arising when she was trying to wriggle out of a tight spot or to convince someone to give in to her demands. The only real suspense here is generated during the investigation and trial, as prosecuting and defense attorneys fight it out in the courtroom.

True-crime fans will relish this one.

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I knew Celeste, she lived in my parents neighborhood before she was arrested. Very nice lady and never knew this side of her until she was arrested. Very interesting book and really gives a look into her life. Kept my interest throughout.

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This book was enjoyable to read because of Celeste Beard. She's so outrageous and over the top in her behavior that it seems unreal. I thought 30 pages into the book that she was on a collision course with death. She left a path of destruction in her wake, which affected all those she met, and she didn't give a hoot. The only thing that bothered me were the spelling and grammatical errors. Where have all the book editors gone?

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