Steve Hodel: The Black Dahlia Avenger

[KBomb_reads]

Is anyone as interested in the Black Dahlia as I am? I think the whole case and the stories non-fiction and fiction are truely interesting and have gone overlooked throughout the genre. Perhaps there could be more documentaries and maybe even movies about it. It certainly surpasses the horror of even the made up stories in movies. What do you all think of The Black Dahlia?

 

[novella]

Wow, I think that whole story is strange. Did you read the book that came out last year that was written by the murderer's son, who only found out that his father did it after he started writing a book about it? No kidding. It's not the best-written book in the world, but how weird. I'll try to find a link to it.

Here it is. The author was an LAPD detective who wanted to solve the case and the more he learned, the more he realized that the murderer was his own father, who was a surgeon and well known around LA back then.

Story of the cop whose father was the Black Dahlia murderer

 

[KBomb_reads]

Yeah, I read that one too! I thought it was really cool to find about that whole thing. When I was younger, instead of the traditional grade school reading like "Goosebumps" and all those, I was really interested in all the Dahlia books, particularly Elroy's book, and also Amityville Horror. really great books for the little ones.
They have all these documentaries on inconspicuous murders, but at the time when this happened it was big stuff, and it wasn't solved until this latest writer figured it was his father.
One of the most brutal murders in history, there ought to be more about it.

 

[Stewart]

Have you played Black Dahlia, the computer game?

 

[lenny nero]

You should check out the film, James Ellroy's Feast of Death, where the author and a bunch of LAPD detectives(including the one who wrote the above book) sit around a dinner table and discuss the murder and various theories about it. Fascinating stuff. The also show the crime scene and morgue photos of Elizabeth Short in it, which I had never seen before.

 

[onetwentypm]

I thought I'd resurrect this thread since the movie's out now. Anyone seen it? My husband and I went to watch it last night. The word that kept running through my mind was noir. I thought the acting was superb, but the storyline was a little bit difficult to follow. I suspect they just had too many details to fit into a 2-hour film. I haven't read the book, but may pick it up eventually.

 

[lenny nero]

The movie, just like the book, has a lot of plot twists near the end and it could've definitely benefitted from another half hour. Otherwise, I thought it was really good, with good turns by Hartnett, who I had some reservations about, and Hilary Swank, who's never played a sexy role like this one before. Mia Kershner, was great as well, taking a barely there character, in the book, and bringing her vividly to life in a few short scenes. Of course they changed some of the plot of the book, but not enough to ruin it. Ellroy has given his approval on it as well.

 

[Anamnesis]

Wow, I think that whole story is strange. Did you read the book that came out last year that was written by the murderer's son, who only found out that his father did it after he started writing a book about it? No kidding. It's not the best-written book in the world, but how weird. I'll try to find a link to it

Hmm, there was a book that came out several years ago with a similar premise: Daddy Was the Black Dahlia Killer. The book was written by Janice Knowlton, who claims that her father was a child molester as well as the murderer of Elizabeth Smart. It sounded intriguing, although if the reviewers on Amazon.com are correct it's all but fiction.

 

[lenny nero]

I remember some woman wrote a book claiming that Orson Welles was the killer! I was mistaken in my above post, it was not Steve Hodel in James Ellroy's Feast of Death, but an ex-LAPD detective named Larry Harnisch, who is in the process of writing a book about his theory on that the killer was a doctor who lived near the murder scene. I do remember that Ellroy said in the movie that Harnisch had uncovered evidence that had never been revealed before in any of the Dahlia literature. I think he has a website where he lays out the theory and the evidence he has.

 

[Anamnesis]

The book was written by Janice Knowlton, who claims that her father was a child molester as well as the murderer of Elizabeth Smart

Well, that's embarrassing. Can't believe I didn't notice that until now...