‘Black Dahlia Avenger’ by Steve Hodel

My Review (5 stars out of 5)

The murder of Elizabeth Short (known as the Black Dahlia) has remained unsolved for more than fifty years. Now, former LAPD detective Steve Hodel believes he has uncovered the killer. Following a death in his family, Hodel found documents that set him off on a murder hunt, unearthing evidence that the Black Dahlia killer may have also murdered several other women. With links to controversial photographer Man Ray and movie director John Huston, Hodel identifies a possible cover-up by the Los Angeles Police Department in a web of lies, corruption and a series of brutal murders.

Since the time of the murder in 1947, theories about who killed the Black Dahlia have been numerous and varied. Without a body or crime scene to examine, Steve Hodel collects an enormous amount of circumstantial evidence that points very firmly at one man. The book is thoroughly researched and well written, and though the author sometimes goes into so much detail that it almost becomes overkill, what he ends up with is a pretty solid case.

Over the years, the range of suspects put forward for the murder has included such luminaries as Bugsy Siegal, Woody Guthrie and Edward Wayne Edwards (who would have been only thirteen years old at the time), but Steve Hodel’s book is the first one to propose an actual prime suspect – one that doesn’t rely on improbable scenarios or unreliable witnesses.

A fascinating and thought-provoking book.

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