Black Dahlia, Red Rose

August 21, 2017
The 1947 murder of Elizabeth Short and the ensuing hunt for the so-called Black Dahlia killer baffled the LAPD and fascinated the public at the time, and has been studied by crime historians in the decades since. In this ambitious but overstuffed account, Eatwell (The Dead Duke, His Secret Wife, and the Missing Corpse) too often gets tangled up in the web of mystery surrounding the still-unsolved crime rather than unraveling it. When a young woman’s bisected body was discovered in Los Angeles’ Leimert Park on Jan. 15, 1947, identifying her proved challenging for LAPD detectives. From the outset, the press took a strong interest in the case, particularly the Los Angeles Examiner and the Herald-Express. It was ultimately the Examiner that first identified the victim as 22-year-old Short, after the staff sent the corpse’s fingerprints to the FBI. In agonizing detail, Eatwell catalogues the LAPD’s struggle for answers, even after the discovery of Short’s luggage, containing an address book filled with potential suspects. Often preoccupied with tracing the corruption scandals that ran rampant within the LAPD, Eatwell, who oddly becomes a character in the narrative at the end, makes a convincing case for the Black Dahlia killer’s identity, but takes far too long and far too twisted a road to get there.

October 15, 2017

Seventy years after the murder of Elizabeth Short, infamously called the "Black Dahlia," sent shock waves through Los Angeles, Eatwell (The Dead Duke, His Secret Wife, and the Missing Corpse) presents a thoroughly researched look at the crime and subsequent investigation conducted by the LAPD. Eatwell successfully paints a portrait of the city and its police department, signifying that the cover-up and corruption involved in this case (as well as throughout the department) was a product of the time and not reflective of today's practices. Although the featured photographs will likely be familiar to true crime sleuths who have studied the case, many of the supporting documents are full of previously unreleased information pertaining to Short's murder. Eatwell has included files (many of which are newly available) from the LAPD and FBI investigations as well as interviews. VERDICT The investigative materials provide a solid foundation for Eatwell's film noir-style narrative; a first purchase where true crime titles circulate widely.--Mattie Cook, Lake Odessa Comm. Lib., MI

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