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fcastlekeane's review against another edition
3.0
Though well written and seemingly well researched, I was hoping for something new. Everything revealed in this book about the different suspects and the original investigation has already been made public through investigative articles and documentaries.
shelfofunread's review
2.0
Really struggled with this one - just couldn’t get a handle on the chronology and all the different people involved.
The book has clearly been very well researched but it felt to me as if the author has info-dumped all that into the page without a sense of how it all fits together.
For a reader familiar with the Black Dahlia case and wanting more analysis, this might well have the thoroughness and detail you’re looking for - but for a lay reader like me, it was a confusing and often frustrating reading unfortunately.
The book has clearly been very well researched but it felt to me as if the author has info-dumped all that into the page without a sense of how it all fits together.
For a reader familiar with the Black Dahlia case and wanting more analysis, this might well have the thoroughness and detail you’re looking for - but for a lay reader like me, it was a confusing and often frustrating reading unfortunately.
allisonwonderlandreads's review against another edition
dark
informative
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
The Black Dahlia murder is an open case that happened in 1947 Los Angeles. It's a horrifying case at baseline, and when you add in the police corruption, the beginnings of forensic profiling, the bold role of journalism, and the sexist and fragile post-war social climate, things get really interesting. In what I have come to appreciate is Piu Eatwell's signature style, this book slowly unravels the details of the case so a reader can feel they are along for the ride of investigation, speculation, and discovery. I love the way the author interrogates source material directly to poke at biases, gaps, and conflicting data. She seamlessly melds that approach with a narrative writing style so that there is a story element with setting details and characterization coexisting beautifully alongside fact-finding analysis and reflection. I also love how each new shocking turn of events, each revelation arrives with proper ominous pomp to keep readers on the edge of their seats. Eatwell chooses the order and manner of how facts are shared for maximum suspense and impact. As I was unfamiliar with this case, I was very easy to shock and awe, which was part of the fun. Finally, I appreciated the latter part of the book where Eatwell gives insight into her research process and her own uncovering of secrets, site visits, and consultations with modern experts in their fields.
My only complaint is that there is more repititon of known facts in this one than I noticed in Eatwell's more recent publication. In a few instances, reminders of connections and case details were helpful to me, but I was more likely to be frustrated and eager for something new. This was especially so in the final 2 hours of listening to this audiobook because the author had already laid out her conclusions but circled back through all the facts again without any new insight that would make the review meaningful.
Overall, this is an excellent historical true crime piece. I'd read anything Eatwell writes because I love her thorough approach and engaging writing style that drew me in and kept me interested and thrilled throughout. I also think she has a knack for choosing complicated cases in rich contexts, which results in a multilayered, fascinating read.
My only complaint is that there is more repititon of known facts in this one than I noticed in Eatwell's more recent publication. In a few instances, reminders of connections and case details were helpful to me, but I was more likely to be frustrated and eager for something new. This was especially so in the final 2 hours of listening to this audiobook because the author had already laid out her conclusions but circled back through all the facts again without any new insight that would make the review meaningful.
Overall, this is an excellent historical true crime piece. I'd read anything Eatwell writes because I love her thorough approach and engaging writing style that drew me in and kept me interested and thrilled throughout. I also think she has a knack for choosing complicated cases in rich contexts, which results in a multilayered, fascinating read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, and Murder
Moderate: Infidelity
Minor: Alcoholism, Homophobia, Antisemitism, Abortion, and Lesbophobia
sarahsbookshelves's review against another edition
3.0
[3.5 stars]
The Black Dahlia murder occurred during a time when Los Angeles was rampant with corruption (including in the LAPD) and gangsters. And, this vivid setting and culture is very much a part of the murder and the book, making Black Dahlia, Red Rose feel like more than just a true crime “genre” book. The case itself is fascinating, as is the corruption that went on at the time and the re-examination of the evidence now…but, I did get bogged down in details a bit through the middle when the focus turned to corruption in the LAPD. If you liked In Cold Blood or American Fire, I think you’ll like this one!
For more reviews, visit my blog: https://www.sarahsbookshelves.com
The Black Dahlia murder occurred during a time when Los Angeles was rampant with corruption (including in the LAPD) and gangsters. And, this vivid setting and culture is very much a part of the murder and the book, making Black Dahlia, Red Rose feel like more than just a true crime “genre” book. The case itself is fascinating, as is the corruption that went on at the time and the re-examination of the evidence now…but, I did get bogged down in details a bit through the middle when the focus turned to corruption in the LAPD. If you liked In Cold Blood or American Fire, I think you’ll like this one!
For more reviews, visit my blog: https://www.sarahsbookshelves.com
lirazel's review against another edition
2.0
The information here, including a very plausible theory of who was involved in the Dahlia killing, is very solid. But it's bogged down by messy writing. I frequently couldn't parse sentences or figure out what the writer was saying, and I am not a bad reader. If the quality of the writing had reached the level of the facts provided, this would be a classic of true crime writing. As it is, I'm sticking with 3.0 stars.
courtneydoss's review against another edition
3.0
The death of Elizabeth Short was made famous for two things; one, the brutality of it, and two, the fact that it remains unsolved even into the present day. Whether due to lack of substantial clues or incompetence, willful or otherwise, on the part of investigators, the crime that shocked the nation in 1947 never got any closure, breeding a whole host of armchair detectives attempting to reach the conclusions that were never reached at the time.
Piu Marie Eatwell is not an armchair detective, or if she is, she's in a league of her own. Using her experience as a lawyer and what must have been every waking hour doing tireless research, Eatwell reached a conclusion as to who she believed to have committed the murders, and wrote an entire book to prove it. Whether or not there is any substance to Eatwell's theories, I can't say with any sort of confidence. It seems that others who have done more research than I have issues with her belief that Leslie Dillon was the murderer, based on the fact that he was likely in San Francisco at the time of the killings. However, from what I've read, that claim in unsubstantiated, and therefore Leslie Dillon remains a valid suspect. Perhaps Eatwell is wrong, or maybe she is right on the money, but I was convinced by her arguments.
I never thought that I was squeamish with violence, but lately I've been more and more disturbed by the gory descriptions in my nonfiction reading choices. The descriptions of what was done to Elizabeth Short before she died, and immediately afterward were painful to read. Imagining the terror that this young woman, only twenty-two at the time, must have felt was so upsetting. I have seen the photos of the Black Dahlia killing before this, but seeing them again after reading this book was an incredibly different experience. It went from an "oh gross" reaction to extreme horror at the fact that something like this could happen. Perhaps knowing more about Ms. Short and her life gave an extra depth to my empathy for what happened to her, making the photos that much harder to look at, or perhaps age is a contributing factor. Regardless, I was deeply moved by what happened to Elizabeth Short, and incredibly frustrated with the outcome of the case.
The fact of the matter is that Elizabeth Short's case was mishandled by multiple parties, not the least of which was the couple that owned a hotel, in which a room was found coated in blood and feces around the time of Elizabeth Short's death. The couple, in an attempt to avoid any interference from the police, as they had previous run-ins with them, cleaned up the room and likely destroyed key evidence in the case. This single action changed the entire course of the case, in my opinion. The DNA evidence alone might have been enough that now, in our age of advanced technology, we could have an answer. Alas, we'll never know.
Another factor that was upsetting to me was the way in which Elizabeth Short herself was treated throughout the case. At some point in the case, Elizabeth's sex life was called into question. The fact that she had been spotted around town with multiple men translated in the minds of judgmental America into promiscuity, and promiscuity translated into at least a small amount of culpability in her own demise. Her murder was used as a warning to bad girls about what could happen if they ever branched away from their families, and her national reputation morphed into that of the whore, the temptress. Whether or not Elizabeth Short slept with every man she was seen with, or even more than that, is irrelevant. She was a twenty-two year old woman, at the peak of her beauty and just starting out in the world. She had every right to explore it as she wished, and the fact that some sadistic prick took that from her is in no way an indicator of what Elizabeth Short did or did not do wrong in her life.
I know that I'm preaching to the choir with the modern audience of this book, because times have changed, but the injustice of the way that Elizabeth Short was handled during what should have been her lifetime is annoying to me.
I rated this book three stars because of the dry way in which it was delivered. I listened to this as an Audiobook, and the reader was a male with a very deep, dry voice. There is nothing wrong with a male narrator, in general, but I prefer the higher pitched voices of females as they are easier to hear over the sounds of traffic as I drive to work. That combined with the narrative style of the writing made the book not quite as enjoyable as it could have been. Obviously, as a nonfiction book, it's not going to have the same style as a fictional novel, but a little pizazz goes a long way in keeping the reader interested in what they're absorbing. Still, I think that Eatwell was very thorough in her research and the book was very good for what it was.
Piu Marie Eatwell is not an armchair detective, or if she is, she's in a league of her own. Using her experience as a lawyer and what must have been every waking hour doing tireless research, Eatwell reached a conclusion as to who she believed to have committed the murders, and wrote an entire book to prove it. Whether or not there is any substance to Eatwell's theories, I can't say with any sort of confidence. It seems that others who have done more research than I have issues with her belief that Leslie Dillon was the murderer, based on the fact that he was likely in San Francisco at the time of the killings. However, from what I've read, that claim in unsubstantiated, and therefore Leslie Dillon remains a valid suspect. Perhaps Eatwell is wrong, or maybe she is right on the money, but I was convinced by her arguments.
I never thought that I was squeamish with violence, but lately I've been more and more disturbed by the gory descriptions in my nonfiction reading choices. The descriptions of what was done to Elizabeth Short before she died, and immediately afterward were painful to read. Imagining the terror that this young woman, only twenty-two at the time, must have felt was so upsetting. I have seen the photos of the Black Dahlia killing before this, but seeing them again after reading this book was an incredibly different experience. It went from an "oh gross" reaction to extreme horror at the fact that something like this could happen. Perhaps knowing more about Ms. Short and her life gave an extra depth to my empathy for what happened to her, making the photos that much harder to look at, or perhaps age is a contributing factor. Regardless, I was deeply moved by what happened to Elizabeth Short, and incredibly frustrated with the outcome of the case.
The fact of the matter is that Elizabeth Short's case was mishandled by multiple parties, not the least of which was the couple that owned a hotel, in which a room was found coated in blood and feces around the time of Elizabeth Short's death. The couple, in an attempt to avoid any interference from the police, as they had previous run-ins with them, cleaned up the room and likely destroyed key evidence in the case. This single action changed the entire course of the case, in my opinion. The DNA evidence alone might have been enough that now, in our age of advanced technology, we could have an answer. Alas, we'll never know.
Another factor that was upsetting to me was the way in which Elizabeth Short herself was treated throughout the case. At some point in the case, Elizabeth's sex life was called into question. The fact that she had been spotted around town with multiple men translated in the minds of judgmental America into promiscuity, and promiscuity translated into at least a small amount of culpability in her own demise. Her murder was used as a warning to bad girls about what could happen if they ever branched away from their families, and her national reputation morphed into that of the whore, the temptress. Whether or not Elizabeth Short slept with every man she was seen with, or even more than that, is irrelevant. She was a twenty-two year old woman, at the peak of her beauty and just starting out in the world. She had every right to explore it as she wished, and the fact that some sadistic prick took that from her is in no way an indicator of what Elizabeth Short did or did not do wrong in her life.
I know that I'm preaching to the choir with the modern audience of this book, because times have changed, but the injustice of the way that Elizabeth Short was handled during what should have been her lifetime is annoying to me.
I rated this book three stars because of the dry way in which it was delivered. I listened to this as an Audiobook, and the reader was a male with a very deep, dry voice. There is nothing wrong with a male narrator, in general, but I prefer the higher pitched voices of females as they are easier to hear over the sounds of traffic as I drive to work. That combined with the narrative style of the writing made the book not quite as enjoyable as it could have been. Obviously, as a nonfiction book, it's not going to have the same style as a fictional novel, but a little pizazz goes a long way in keeping the reader interested in what they're absorbing. Still, I think that Eatwell was very thorough in her research and the book was very good for what it was.
george_stokoe's review
5.0
On the same subject as James Ellroy's gripping pulp novel, Black Dahlia (a fictional reworking of the 1947 murder of Elizabeth Short, in Los Angeles), but non-fiction. Piu Eatwell's book is a true crime account, based on unredacted FBI and police files and new interviews, but it's no less of a page-turner.
"In the following pages I tell the story of this extraordinary case. However, despite its narrative form, this is not a work of fiction. Anything written between quotation marks comes from a letter, memoir, or other written document. If I describe the weather on a particular day, it is because I checked the contemporary weather reports. " (from the preface)
I won't give spoilers, but Eatwell makes a very convincing case for the suspect she fancies as the killer.
It's a plot so thick you could stand a spoon up in it. But events are gone over several times, from different angles, which makes it easier to understand.
Psychopathic bellhops, dodgy nightclub owners, pornographers,cynical chain - smoking journalists, cops who run protection rackets (extorting the gangsters), girls arriving on the bus hoping to make it in the movies (Ann Toth, a friend of the victim,later had a bit part in the film Smash-Up - you can still see this today, on DVD) --they're all in this book.
There's even one suspect who was a physician,who was suspected of murdering his secretary, as well as the Black Dahlia. He ran an illegal abortion clinic, was into surrealist art, and was even suspected by the police of having Communist sympathies. (He escaped to the Philippines.)
One of the gangster suspects gets shot in the back with a twenty-five-caliber automatic pistol, by his dancer girlfriend, accusing him of being a "goddam cop lover". She wound up in a lunatic asylum.
The books a great read, and a real window on a previous era. Even the chapter titles are in an atmospheric art deco typeface.
Highly recommended!
"In the following pages I tell the story of this extraordinary case. However, despite its narrative form, this is not a work of fiction. Anything written between quotation marks comes from a letter, memoir, or other written document. If I describe the weather on a particular day, it is because I checked the contemporary weather reports. " (from the preface)
I won't give spoilers, but Eatwell makes a very convincing case for the suspect she fancies as the killer.
It's a plot so thick you could stand a spoon up in it. But events are gone over several times, from different angles, which makes it easier to understand.
Psychopathic bellhops, dodgy nightclub owners, pornographers,cynical chain - smoking journalists, cops who run protection rackets (extorting the gangsters), girls arriving on the bus hoping to make it in the movies (Ann Toth, a friend of the victim,later had a bit part in the film Smash-Up - you can still see this today, on DVD) --they're all in this book.
There's even one suspect who was a physician,who was suspected of murdering his secretary, as well as the Black Dahlia. He ran an illegal abortion clinic, was into surrealist art, and was even suspected by the police of having Communist sympathies. (He escaped to the Philippines.)
One of the gangster suspects gets shot in the back with a twenty-five-caliber automatic pistol, by his dancer girlfriend, accusing him of being a "goddam cop lover". She wound up in a lunatic asylum.
The books a great read, and a real window on a previous era. Even the chapter titles are in an atmospheric art deco typeface.
Highly recommended!