PDF The Black Dahlia Files The Mob the Mogul and the Murder That Transfixed Los Angeles eBook Don Wolfe

Product details Print Length 416 pages Publisher Harper (June 25, 2019) Publication Date June 25, 2019 Language English ASIN B07NVHJ8XH

The Black Dahlia Files The Mob the Mogul and the Murder That Transfixed Los Angeles eBook Don Wolfe Reviews

• Being a serious Black Dahlia buff, I devour each and every new book that comes out about the crime. While my favorite book remains SEVERED by John Gilmore (my introduction to Elizabeth Short), I have to concede that THE BLACK DAHLIA FILES by Donald Wolfe is clearly the best, most authoritative, and most carefully researched book yet written on the crime, and the one that appears to come closest to actually solving this nearly 60-year-old murder mystery...almost.
  
  The hook here is that FILES was written from newly opened Black Dahlia case files. Yes, this is certainly a hook, but I would say the real hook is that it's a book written by a skilled nonfiction crime writer who presents his case with verifiable evidence, historical context, and source notes, a first for a Dahlia book. Author Wolfe also acknowledges past books and pet theories. He notes that John Gilmore came very close to catching the killer in SEVERED (in fact, Gilmore's suspect plays a role in Wolfe's theory), he pays respect to Mary Pacios' well-researched CHILDHOOD SHADOWS (but, come on, we all knew Orson Welles didn't do it), and he thoroughly discredits the much hyped hokum of Steve Hodel's BLACK DAHLIA AVENGER and its equally delusional predecessor, DADDY WAS THE BLACK DAHLIA KILLER.
  
  The "files" alluded to in the title are two boxes of DA case files which, unfortunately, do not include the police files nor the official autopsy with its "dark secret" (Wolfe reveals what he believes the secret to be, but I remain skeptical). While these two boxes do reveal some intriguing new information about the crime and the officers involved in the investigation, the information tends to raise more questions than it answers, and it's frustrating when Wolfe is forced to conclude many provocative passages with the admission that possible corroborating evidence remains "locked away in an LAPD warehouse" (35 boxes of files still remain sealed).
  
  Nevertheless, Wolfe knows a lot about LAPD corruption, the newspaper business, and the mob in 1947 Los Angeles, and he firmly plants Elizabeth Short in the center of it all. It's really fascinating stuff, and midway through this book, I was convinced Wolfe had solved the crime. However, in the end, Wolfe connects the dots via a remarkable eyewitness account of the crime scene by two LAPD police officers that seemed just too good to be true. Wolfe states that these same offices provided smoking gun evidence for his previous book, THE LAST DAYS OF MARILYN MONROE. Hmmm... It's a little convenient, and until we learn more about the credibility of these men and their account, I'll leave Wolfe's dots unconnected. Still, what remains is an intriguing set of circumstantial evidence, expertly presented, along with the chilling recollections of Jack Anderson Wilson (the chief suspect in SEVERED), who almost certainly WAS at the scene of the crime.
  
  And what of the woman herself? Unfortunately, the romantic image of Elizabeth Short as fated hauntress of the night or virginal victim stalked by a beast is dissipated somewhat in the reality of Wolfe's reconstruction. She ceases to be a cipher for noir fantasies of 1947 LA and appears before us as she most likely really was -- a foolish dreamer with bad teeth who played dangerous games with men who should have been avoided. Maybe that's why I still cling to SEVERED as my Black Dahlia bible, which transforms Betty Short into a raven-haired phantom who haunts you. With Wolfe, what haunts in the end is the feeling that this infamous crime is very, VERY close to being solved...if only.
• I've always been enthralled with this story - don't know why - guess its because I love a good mystery and I can't believe its still never been solved.
• Awesome book. Gives more layers to the mystery. Sad murder. Really got me thinking like a detective. The mob, L.A in the 40's. It's possible.I really enjoyed this read.
• The story is ghost-like. You simply can't get enough of the clues,hoping to solve it when no one else did. NOT for the skittish.
• Love it. I love reading books of this type.
• This was a gift and recipient loved the CD
• Love it
• "She'd come into our drugstore frequently. She'd usually wear one of those two-piece beaching costumes, which left her midriff bare. Or she'd wear black lacy things. Her hair was jet black and she liked to wear it high. She was popular with the men who came in and they usually called her `The Black Dahlia'"
  
  "Each time she would be gone for the day or two saying that she was going to hitch a ride downtown to Sixth Street. Upon her return, she was always loaded with money and would pay all her bills."
  
  I felt for Elizabeth Short. I felt for her poverty and what she thought she had to do to get money, with hopes of seeing her names in lights and eventually becoming a move star.
  
  I sense that most of these young girls when starting out never imagined what they were in for until it was too late and they stared danger in the face. But these girls wanted the same as all others, love, acceptance family and marriage no doubt. It is just that they chose a different way which might have seen easier and more lucrative at first; then they saw the dead end; literally.
  
  What I would like to know though is why did these rich guys that courted her never had the presence of mind to help Elizabeth Short with her dental work. She must have gone through so much stress having to put Paraffin candles on the parts of her teeth that has gone bad. (I know someone who put White correction fluid on theirs as a temporary measure until they got to the dentist.)
  
  This true story was well told but I cannot help the heavy feeling of sadness for her, and especially her mother who seemed a strong woman holding everything in. If these greedy men in higher echelons wanted to get rid of her so badly, so that shame would not be reflected on them, they should have paid her a good sum to get lost in Australia or some part of Europe, and that would have done her well, I'm sure. Why did they have to cut her up like that?
  
  I sincerely hope that young women will read this book and be cautious in their journeys to other states looking for stardom.
  
  Reviewed by Heather Marshall Negahdar (SUGAR-CANE 16/01/07)