Book excerpt: The Amazing Arden is the most notorious female illusionist of her day, renowned for sawing a man in half. One night, with policeman Virgil Holt in the audience, she swaps her saw for a fire axe. A new trick or an all-too-real murder? When a dead body is discovered, the answer seems clear. But under Holt's interrogation what Arden's story reveals is both unbelievable and spellbinding.