Reviews

A Murder in Hollywood: The Untold Story of Tinseltown's Most Shocking Crime by Casey Sherman

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lkstrohecker's review

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dark sad tense medium-paced

xxstefaniereadsxx's review against another edition

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informative medium-paced

3.0

Lana Turner was born in 1921 in Idaho. She was discovered by a talent scout in 1936 while visiting a soda shop. She began her career in show business, landing several major roles. She was a very attractive woman and had a pretty public love life. She was married to Artie Shaw, a musician. After their divorce, she married fellow actor Steven Crane, with whom she had one child, Cheryl. She married Bob Topping, a wealthy socialite, next. During this marriage, she went through issues with the film studio, gave birth to a stillborn child, financial problems, a suicide attempt, and another divorce. After this, she married another actor, Lex Barker, and had another stillborn child. She had three other marriages after this before her romance with gangster Johnny Stompanato. He was physically abusive towards Lana, which was nothing new to her, considering her past marital problems. During one argument, Stompanato found himself stabbed to death, with Lana's daughter, Cheryl, taking the blame. This book discusses the life, career, and relationships of Lana, but the last part of the book focuses heavily on this murder case.

I thought the book was very interesting. I didn't find a boring part in it. I love Mafia books, so reading about gangsters and film stars of yesteryear was right up my alley. This book was for sale at CrimeCon 2024, but I bought the Audible version. If you are interested in either of the aforementioned things, or just looking for an interesting murder case, this was a solid book.