Length: 229 pages
Genre: True Crime
Started: 9 November 2013
Finished: 13 November 2013
Where did it come from? Many thanks to Rebecca at The Cadence Group for sending me a copy of this book to read.
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 28 September 2013
Why do I have it? I like true crime and Dina Di Mambro is a new author for me.
A tantalizing mixture of classic Hollywood nostalgia and true crime, this book is suspenseful, entertaining, and compulsively readable. Featuring 100 rare photographs and a dozen different chapters, True Hollywood Noir: Filmland Mysteries and Murders by Dina Di Mambro, uncovers the true stories of mystery and murder surrounding the lives and deaths of many stars of Hollywood's golden age. The lives, potential scandals, and untimely deaths of such people as William Desmond Taylor, Thomas Ince, Jean Harlow, Thelma Todd, Joan Bennett, Lana Turner, George Reeves, Gig Young, Bob Crane, Natalie Wood, Robert Blake, and Mickey Cohen are revealed. Included in the cast of characters of this book are Johnny Stompanato, William Randolph Hearst, Marion Davies, and Charlie Chaplin. And read never before told mob stories about Ben 'Bugsy' Siegel, Virginia Hill, and a host of notorious underworld figures.
From 1922 until 2001, explore some of Hollywood's most fascinating mysteries, scandals and murders - true Hollywood noir lived by the players behind the scenes. The West Coast mob and city corruption intertwining with Hollywood mysteries on and off screen, the plots of noir films pulled from actual happenings in the criminal underworld - these are the stories behind the stories, the darker images playing out in living color behind the silver screen. Although many of the actors mentioned in this book met with tragic and untimely deaths, or notorious misfortune tainted the remainder of their lives, the talent of these highly creative individuals and the legacy they left behind has given them a timeless immortality which is undeniable.
I love watching movies, and so by extension, I thoroughly enjoyed reading True Hollywood Noir: Filmland Mysteries and Murders by Dina Di Mambro. Although I knew several of these actors' names and life stories because I took a Classic Film course when I was in college, there were also many of these names that were relatively new to me. I give this book an A! and certainly look forward to reading more by Ms. Di Mambro in the future.
A! - (90-95%)
May you read well and often
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