Thursday, August 31, 2006

The Black Dahlia


I’m looking forward to The Black Dahlia opening on September 15th. I read the book by James Ellroy and enjoyed it quite a bit. It’s one of those books that make you glad you live a boring, normal, suburban life. For those of you who may be unfamiliar with the Black Dahlia murder, it was the shocking and grotesque torture, murder and mutilation of Elizabeth Short in Los Angeles January 15, 1947. Many movies and countless books have been written about this still unsolved murder, it’s fascinating, in a way, that so many people for so many years are still interested in this sad story. I also read The Black Dahlia Avenger by Steve Hodel who makes the case, somewhat unpersuasively, that his father was a serial murderer who killed Betty Short among many others. There were many suspects in this case including Woody Guthrie, Orson Welles and a couple of women. Who was responsible may never be known conclusively. I have no regrets that I read these books other than the fact that Amazon keeps recommending bizarre ghoulish books to me. Read two murder mysteries and all of a sudden you’re branded a freak.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Yeah it was those two books that did it.