She Wanted It All

A True Story of Sex, Murder, and a Texas Millionaire (Avon True Crime)

By: Kathryn Casey

Narrated by: Gillian Vance

Length: 14 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

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!

The wife:
She wanted everything, but her husband stood in the way.

The lesbian lover:
A lovestruck, middle-aged woman with a history of mental illness. She would do anything to set Celeste free.

The beauty salon receptionist:
Celeste hired her to tie up the loose ends...in a second conspiracy to commit murder.

©2005 Kathryn Casey (P)2023 Kathryn Casey

Another great "True Crime"!

A very good book by this author with an almost unbelievable story,--complicated but author tells it very clearly and with feeling and compassion for those victims of the crime. Good narration too!

Good Book

Unbelievable story, but author tells it well. A lot of details in this twist and turn crime story

If it wasn’t true crime you wouldn’t believe it.

It’s interesting that people can be manipulated by such a selfish person. All this person cared about was herself. She had it all and it wasn’t good enough. Now she has nothing and that’s exactly what she deserves. This was an interesting listen. Give it a try.

Monsters are real

I followed this trial on CourtTV and since then have watched interviews with Celeste Beard on shows like Facing Evil and Reasonable Doubt, so I thought I had a pretty good idea of what kind of person she was and how she still refuses to accept any responsibility for what she's done, even aside from what she was convicted of doing. This book, though, was a revelation. I had no idea of what Celeste Beard's life before meeting Steven Beard had been like, or how she brought chaos everywhere she went. The things that she got away with before she manipulated her friend Tracey into killing her husband were jaw-dropping. The way that she treated people who loved her was horrifying. I've listened to the book a few times and still can't figure out how she got that way. All that I can come up with is that she was born without a conscience. Everyone who loved or cared about Celeste ended up dead, damaged, or in prison.
The research that went into this book is excellent, and Kathryn Casey shows great empathy for all of Celeste Beard's husbands (all of them, especially Steven Beard), the Beard family and her own daughters, while doing her best to be fair as possible to Celeste herself. Still, based on everything that Celeste is known to have done, she is exactly where she belongs.
This book is highly recommended for true crime fans, and I look forward to reading more of Kathryn Casey's work.

Good listening. Kept my interest the entire time.

I enjoyed the book and thought this murder trial was well-presented. I plan to listen to more books by Ms. Casey. You should too. 😊

Texas Case/ Evil woman

Good details and narrative. Loved the chronicle of a woman’s life of greed, selfishness, and ruthlessness. I would not believe all the allegations against this wife and mother- but the evidence was overwhelming and explained succinctly. Fun to hear the anger displayed (sour grapes) by the defense attorney.

Riveting!

Although a tragic story, it was very well written. The narrator did a fanulous read.

Super intriguing

This story is insane! Can’t wait to read more true stories from this author. She truly knows how to research and tell stories.

loved the telling of story

was a really good listen. was hard to turn it off.. Also was good narration from the story teller.

Love the Book!

This is the 6th Kathryn Casey true crime book I’ve listened to with Audible. I’m getting ready to start another one. I especially like that the cases were all in Texas. I even knew someone she mentioned in one of them. The only thing I would change is that the narrator pronounces many places and names incorrectly repeatedly. A little advanced research on this would make everything about these books perfect.