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A murder in Hollywood : the untold story of Tinseltown's most shocking crime
2024
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Superfans of the Golden Age of Hollywood will know all about actress Lana Turner and the 1958 death of her mobster boyfriend, Johnny Stompanato. Turner's 14-year-old daughter, Cheryl, confessed to stabbing Stompanato because of the abuse she witnessed when her mother tried to break up with him. Journalist/screenwriter Sherman (Helltown: The Untold Story of a Serial Killer on Cape Cod) reopens this famous case and its subsequent trial, however, to examine whether Cheryl really did kill Stompanato and how much of a role Turner played in the case. What readers may not know is how entrenched the actress was in the Los Angeles gangland of the 1950s. Fans of Hollywood true crime will discover that mob boss Mickey Cohen shares star billing in this crime saga, and the book is as much about the history of the West Coast mob as it is about Turner. Sherman is clearly a Turner fan. He calls her a "feminist hero and pioneer" who managed to take back her own life in Hollywood, where masculine toxicity and violence against women were prevalent. VERDICT A well-researched and new take on one of Hollywood's most notorious mysteries. True-crime fans and celebrity mavens will enjoy.--Rosellen "Rosy" Brewer
Summary

USA TODAY BESTSELLER

"A wild ride beneath the glitz and glamour of 1950s Hollywood, proving once again that Casey Sherman is a master of the genre."

--Ben Mezrich, New York Times bestselling author of Dumb Money, Bringing Down the House, and The Accidental Billionaires

The dark story behind the bright lights of Tinseltown

From the outside, Hollywood starlet Lana Turner seemed to have it all--a thriving film career, a beautiful daughter, and the kind of fame and fortune that most people could only dream of. But when the famous femme fatale began dating mobster Johnny Stompanato, thug for the infamous west coast mob boss Mickey Cohen, her personal life became violent and unpredictable. Lana's teenage daughter, Cheryl, watched her beloved mother's life deteriorate as Stompanato's intense jealousy took over. Eventually, the physical and emotional abuse became too much to bear, and Lana attempted to break it off with Johnny--with disastrous consequences. The details of what happened that fateful night remain foggy, but it ended in a series of frantic phone calls and Stompanato dead on Lana's bedroom floor, with Cheryl claiming to have plunged a knife into his abdomen in an attempt to protect her mother. The subsequent murder trial made for the biggest headlines of the year, its drama eclipsing every Hollywood movie.

New York Times bestselling author Casey Sherman pulls back Tinseltown's velvet curtain to reveal the dark underbelly of celebrity, rife with toxic masculinity and casual violence against women, and tells the story of Lana Turner and her daughter, who finally stood up to the abuse that plagued their family for years. A Murder in Hollywood transports us back to the golden age of film and illuminates one of the 20th century's most notorious true crime tales.

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