Black Dahlia Book Club – True Detective, 1948

Posted on January 13, 2026 by lmharnisch

Magazine cover True Detective October 1948, faces of women with the text 'The Black Dahlia Murders'

Note: Two pages were inadvertently omitted from the upload. They have been added. Thanks to everyone who pointed this out.

Introducing the Black Dahlia Book Club, beginning January 20, 2026, in lieu of the Ask Me Anything sessions on George Hodel and Steve Hodel.

I’m going to begin with “The Black Dahlia Murders,” by George Clark, from the October 1948 issue of True Detective. This isn’t the first pulp magazine article about the murder of Elizabeth Short, but it is by far the most influential because it resulted in the Leslie Dillon debacle.

Note: The article was written from newspaper articles and must be approached with skepticism.

I’ll discuss the article in my live YouTube session, January 20, at 10 a.m. Pacific time on YouTube/LMHarnisch. Email me your questions and I’ll answer them!

The article is on the jump.

October 1948, True Detective, Page 1 True Detective, October 1948, Page 2
True Detective, October 1948, Page 3 True Detective, October 1948, Page 4
True Detective, October 1948, Page 5 True Detective, October 1948, Page 6
True Detective, October 1948, Page 7 True Detective, October 1948, Page 8
True Detective, October 1948, Page 9 True Detective, October 1948, Page 10

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About lmharnisch

I am retired from the Los Angeles Times
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