Overview
- William J. Mann’s Black Dahlia: Murder, Monsters, and Madness in Midcentury Hollywood publishes Jan. 27 with a restorative portrait of Short.
- Mann challenges long-standing depictions that cast Short as a femme fatale or aspiring actress, highlighting how early coverage and police commentary fueled victim-blaming.
- Drawing on public records, district attorney files, newspapers, and interviews, Mann acknowledges he lacked access to LAPD case files.
- He rules out many suspects, narrows the field to three possibilities, and advances one theory that aligns with independent analysis reported by the Los Angeles Times’ Chris Gofford, without claiming a definitive solution.
- The case remains an open homicide dating to Jan. 15, 1947, when Short’s mutilated body was discovered in Los Angeles and the crime entered the city’s cultural lore.