Cat-Eye Annie - by Tony St Clair (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

For readers of Michael Finkel's The Art Thief and Kirk Wallace Johnson's The Feather Thief comes the true story of Cat-Eye Annie, the Jazz Age jewel thief with two-dozen aliases and one multicolored eye who posed as a maid to rob the rich. Her multimillion-dollar haul, daring heists, and prison breaks made her a national legend--and her final disappearance has now been solved.

A wealthy family advertises for a "respectable" German maid. The young woman who arrives speaks the language, provides impeccable references, and handles the housework with precision. But within days, she's gone. So are the diamonds. As Lillian Fix, Lillian Redmond, Annie Bauer, or one of two dozen aliases, she fleeced Jazz Age America of nearly $20 million in today's currency. In and out in a flash. Always on the run.

Stylish and suspenseful, Cat-Eye Annie is the cinematic true-crime caper of a master thief whose downfall was her multicolored left eye, the one clue no disguise of the time could conceal. Drawing on newly uncovered records, Tony St. Clair reconstructs Annie's criminal career, her cat-and-mouse game with detectives and jailers, and the mystery of her final disappearance.

For decades, Annie infiltrated wealthy homes, found their hidden jewels, and vanished. Her trail stretched from St. Louis and Chicago to Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Milwaukee, and California. The Pinkertons hunted her. Celebrated detectives like Arthur "Camera-Eye" Burns matched wits with her. And, sure, they caught Annie. That was one thing. Holding her was another.

She escaped custody three times, attempted breakouts time and again, and became an American folk hero. After her final release in 1941, Annie disappeared for good. Newspapers searched. Police hunted. Even the FBI's trail went cold. Nobody could find her until now with St. Clair's dogged research and riveting storytelling in Cat-Eye Annie.

Review Quotes

Prasie for Tony St. Clair's Daredevil at the Wheel: The Climb and Crash of Joan LaCosta

"An essential contribution to women's sports history and car racing collections."
--Booklist, Starred Review

"A fascinating biography of the race car driver Joan LaCosta. It also doubles as a look into 1920s-era Chicago."
--Chicago Reader

"The spellbinding story of Joan LaCosta, one of America's first speed queens on wheels, splendidly researched and told with tremendous verve and empathy for an extraordinary woman."
--Miranda Seymour, author of The Bugatti Queen: In Search of a Motor-Racing Legend

"Chronicling the rise and fall of a forgotten female athlete, Daredevil at the Wheel is the ideal read for lovers of history and sports. Tony St. Clair's crisp prose brings to life the one-of-a-kind personalities and high-speed thrills of early auto racing."
--Sarah James, international bestselling author of Last Night at the Hollywood Canteen

"Captivating and unputdownable, St. Clair's vivid prose brings to life the incredible tale of one woman's climb to the pinnacle of a male-dominated sport and her spectacular crash into infamy."
--Timothy J. Hillegonds, author of The Distance Between

About the Author

Tony St. Clair is an author, playwright, actor, educator, and public speaker whose work recovers the lives of pioneering women of the 1920s. His debut narrative nonfiction book, Daredevil at the Wheel: The Climb and Crash of Joan LaCosta, was described by Booklist as "an essential contribution to women's sports history and car racing collections" and by Miranda Seymour as "splendidly researched and told with tremendous verve and empathy for an extraordinary woman." An alumnus of the Kenyon Playwrights Conference, St. Clair has had original plays produced around the country, written for automotive publications including Ol Skool Rodz, and created the vintage-racing blog Deadly Curves. A professional actor and experienced lecturer, he has delivered readings, museum programs, and historical presentations across the United States. He lives in Chicago.