Thanks so much to the publisher and to NetGalley for giving me access to this book. Great book! Fascinating true crime... I will be recommending this book. Thanks again for letting have a chance to read it.

A safe bet for true crime fans with an interesting film noir twist. Many characters and suspects make this tricky to follow at times, but stick with it for an interesting tale.

I read this one in early 2018 and forgot to review it.

I thought it was a fascinating account of the Black Dahlia case that plagued Los Angeles for decades. Though the case remains unsolved, the author does a fantastic job of explaining the evidence, the suspects and makes some speculations about the case.

I also thought that the author did a good job of not exploiting the victim or the history of the case. I felt like the book was handled with care and was sensitive to the subject matter.

Though I received an e-arc from netgalley in exchange for an honest review, I ended up reading a finished hardback copy from the library. I highly recommend this book to fans of true crime.

An extremely well researched book that effectively solves the crime, but more importantly goes a long way towards demystifying a case and a victim that have been unfortunately exoticized over and over in pop culture. Elizabeth Short was a person, a real person just like everybody else, with a troubled life and a terrible death, and it’s a damn shame that corruption and the shoddy practices that passed for real law and order back in post-WWII America not only prevented her case from being solved, but only furthered an ongoing tendency in our media to fetishize young white female dead bodies.

Eatwell’s writing can be a little bit repetitive, and I am not sure how I feel about the sensational supernatural bit tacked on at the end for effect, but I would recommend this book to anyone with even a passing interest in the Black Dahlia case or in true crime stories.

This book was exactly what I was expecting - a deep dive into the Black Dahlia case. Murdered in 1947, the legendary Black Dahlia's murderer has never been caught, though Eatwell presents a compelling case here for what might have happened. There are lots of details about the investigation, and in particular the role that journalists played in it. Also noted is the lack of evidence in a lot of places, and omissions that were made by the LAPD, suggesting a cover up.

This is a quick read in that I found myself always turning the page to see what was going to happen next, but it is very detailed and there is a lot of evidence to sift through. Eatwell has obviously done a lot of research, and wants to share all of it with her readers. At times this can make the book feel bogged down, but I appreciated the attempt to present a complete picture wherever possible. The result is a readable true crime story that starts in the late 1940's, and goes right to the present day.

In 1947, the body of Elizabeth Short was found neatly bisected at the torso. The gruesomeness of the murder caused media sensation, as the police scrambled to solve the crime. This book offers a theory of the crime, one that focuses on Leslie Dillon, a suspect interviewed in detail and ultimately released. Well written and researched, it was well organized and offered just the right amount of details. Overall, an interesting read.
With startling new evidence, this gripping reexamination of the Black Dahlia murder offers a definitive theory of a quintessential American crime.

A famous, unsolved murder....and a plausible solution! Interesting to see how the police danced around the suspect (and all the people tied into the coverup!) Very interesting reading.

The Black Dahlia murder case remains a brutal unsolved mystery murder case. Committed by someone familiar with surgical techniques, the murder of twenty-two year old Elizabeth Short, the so-called Black Dahlia because of the lingerie she wore and her jet-black hair. The investigation has never been solved, but I believe Piu Eatwell has finally done that. Using previously unreleased FBI and LAPD files, in addition to the first-hand accounts of people like news reporter Aggie Underwood and Dr. DeRiver, psychologist of the LAPD during the time of the murder, the author makes a compelling argument about the identity of the killer. She also explains who else might’ve been behind the scenes of the murder, as well as the corruption and cover-up perpetrated by the LAPD and their associates. Highly recommended, 5 stars.

I personally loved the way the author set the story for Los Angeles in 1940s post-war America. Narrative nonfiction doesn’t always work, but I really liked the way she blended fact and story to get a let’s-face-it not pleasant topic across. Elizabeth Short was brutally murdered, according to the author’s website, by being “bludgeoned to death, her mouth slit wide on each side. Severe post-mortem lacerations had been made to the body. Most shocking, the corpse had been hacked in two.”

The influences of Hollywood are all over Los Angeles (as they have been since the movie industry has been in existence), but there is also the influence of of gangsters and their cronies, like Mark Hansen, who peddled sex and drugs, and encouraged women to sell themselves body and soul to get into pictures and become famous. I had heard stories about the corruption of the LAPD but to read about it and the depth to which it went, was fascinating, and really makes me want to read a book about that all on its own. The lengths to which they went to in order to cover up the dealings of certain members of the force, basically sabotaged the entire Black Dahlia murder investigation. After reading this book, I can very much imagine a scene as described by the author, between the man who ordered Elizabeth Short’s murder and the man who actually committed it, just like Henry II telling his knights to “get rid of this troublesome priest” when they murdered the Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas a Becket. I found it very fascinating that the author, at the end of the book, discovered Leslie Dillon’s daughter was named Elizabeth, adding that just extra bit of creepiness to an already creepy story.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of the book from W.W. Norton & Company in exchange for my honest review.

Extremely well researched, well documented & indepth "investigation" into the mystery of the Black Dahlia murder.

Black Dahlia Red Rose is a book that takes it's place beside many books on this crime that captured America's attention. An unsolved mystery of a Hollywood starlet, this book seeks to solve this decades old crime.

Using recently released FBI files as well as interviews never before heard of, this book makes a credible argument for solving the mystery. As to whether it is true or not - it is hard to say. This book does a good job of capturing the way the Dahlia was demonized in the press for being a sexual being - a cautionary tale as it were.

If this story captivates you, you will enjoy this book.

Because so much has been written about this infamous cold-case, I didn't expect there would be a lot of new information in this book, but I was pleasantly surprised by how the author managed to dig out details I hadn't read about before.

I love crime books and particularly historical crime nonfiction, so this was immediately something I knew I had to read. Piu Eatwell does a good job relaying the facts of the case in a way that is not dry and boring. At times, while reading this, I felt like I was reading a novel rather than a nonfiction book. The way she put this together with details from the original reports as well as her opinions on the case made for a compelling read. I found myself turning pages and eager to get to the next chapter to find out what else she had uncovered.

I never felt like I was reading another rehash of previous books written on the Dahlia Murder. This was a fresh look at a popular unsolved crime from years ago.

This was an interesting book with a lot to offer anyone who enjoys historical crime. I was happy to read it and am also happy to recommend it.

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher, provided through Netgalley. All opinions are my own.