Welcome to the ninth session of the Black Dahlia Book Club!

I finally got tired of talking about George Hodel and Steve Hodel (at this point, I know Steve’s monologues from memory) so I decided to spend some time looking at portrayals of the murder and the investigation. I consider myself first and foremost a historian of the Black Dahlia case, and think it’s important to examine the source material in detail to emphasize the challenges of researching the murder of Elizabeth Short.

The high bidder on an inscribed first edition of Michael Connelly’s“The Narrows is Kostadin Hadzhibanov. Congratulations! The book will be on its way once I receive proof of a donation in the winning amount to a charity of your choice in memory of Elizabeth Short.

Coming soon: The auction of a signed first edition of Michael Connelly’s The Drop with the winning bid going to a charity of one’s choice in memory of Elizabeth Short

Next month: Black Dahlia Ask Me Anything, October 6 on YouTube.

Links:

Joan Renner: “James Ellroy Presents Elizabeth.”

LAPD Public Records Request on the Black Dahlia (pdf).

In this session, I discussed the Los Angeles County coroner’s files and the LAPD files in the Black Dahlia case. I also discussed:

–Steve Hodel’s THREE new books.

–Deconstructing Dahlia’s claims about the Aster Motel.

–Was Elizabeth Short pregnant?

–Elizabeth Short’s repertoire of sympathy stories.

–Did Elizabeth Short have a “best friend” in Los Angeles?

–Was Elizabeth Short’s killer known to the police?

–Was Marvin Margolis’ alibi thoroughly investigated?