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Tinseltown

Murder, Morphine, and Madness at the Dawn of Hollywood
Feb 19, 2021Vanessa72 rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
Very interesting set up with an in-depth examination of the history and background of each of the women involved . I had read the book based on the research of King Vidor (A Cast of Killers), and his conclusion that it was the mother of Mary Miles Minter, Charlotte Shelby, that killed William Desmond Taylor. This author's research, by bringing in the extortion ring is completely outside of any other hypotheses over the almost 100 years since the murder. The studio executives destroying any incriminating papers taken from Taylor's home before the "real police' arrived have assigned this murder to speculation and conjecture. Taylor's background, his history of assuming false personas and his apparent homosexuality, while portraying himself as a model of virtue would have made him a target for blackmail. I liked the book very much, but I'm not completely convinced about the extortion ring.