Just finished reading “A Murder in Hollywood: Solving A Silent Screen Mystery” by Charles Higham.
This book laid out all the relevant details of the murder of William Desmond Taylor in 1922. At the same time, it delivered a perfect picture of the seamy snarl of sniveling sycophants who would say or do anything to aid the movie studios in their cover-up of who was the actual murderer (murderess?), including the corrupt kingpins of the legal system itself, such as Los Angeles District Attorney Thomas Lee Woolwine.
While the book reads like a detective's journal as he follows and tracks every possible lead in the case to establish who might be the killer, it's the highlighted leads that aren't followed and the clues that are purposely ignored that are most damning and most telling.
I read this book as part of my research for a possible script, and also in relation to the thread “Top of L.A.” here under “Loglines and Query Letters.” I'm sure someone must have optioned this book by now; if not, I'd be quite surprised. How would I find out that information?
Overall, the book was a fun read and even more fun to imagine it as a finished film production.
This book laid out all the relevant details of the murder of William Desmond Taylor in 1922. At the same time, it delivered a perfect picture of the seamy snarl of sniveling sycophants who would say or do anything to aid the movie studios in their cover-up of who was the actual murderer (murderess?), including the corrupt kingpins of the legal system itself, such as Los Angeles District Attorney Thomas Lee Woolwine.
While the book reads like a detective's journal as he follows and tracks every possible lead in the case to establish who might be the killer, it's the highlighted leads that aren't followed and the clues that are purposely ignored that are most damning and most telling.
I read this book as part of my research for a possible script, and also in relation to the thread “Top of L.A.” here under “Loglines and Query Letters.” I'm sure someone must have optioned this book by now; if not, I'd be quite surprised. How would I find out that information?
Overall, the book was a fun read and even more fun to imagine it as a finished film production.
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