Book Review: "Tinseltown," by William J. Mann

[My niece Lisa doesn't just invent crimes for us to solve in our Forrest Sisters Mysteries; as a born detective and researcher, she solves historical crimes as well.  Some, however, are tougher than others.  Here is her review of William J. Mann's recent efforts to solve one of Hollywood's most famous mysteries.]

The death of William Desmond Taylor/William Deane-Tanner is among America's most enigmatic unsolved murders. What makes his case somewhat unique is that there were deliberate efforts from people high-up in the movie industry to ensure that the case remained enigmatic and unsolved. It is virtually certain that there were a number of people who knew--or, at least, had a pretty good guess--who shot the film director, but for their own reasons, they launched a conspiracy that allowed someone to get away with murder. Evidence was concealed, misleading rumors were launched, and mouths were kept firmly shut. As all the people "in the know" are now dead, we will never learn for certain who was behind the killing, and why it was done. As very little reliable evidence about the mystery survives, all theories about the case are necessarily based on speculation.

"Tinseltown" is no exception to this rule, but William J. Mann offers one of the fullest, richest accounts of the Taylor killing to date, introducing several new details, a novel, intriguing "solution," and--most valuable of all--offering a fascinating look at Old Hollywood. The Taylor murder is, in fact, only a plot element in the complex, often sordid, but always exciting history of the film industry's early days.  The anti-hero of our story is Adolph "Creepy" Zukor, the ruthless film mogul who likely engineered the Taylor cover-up. Other stars of the show include Mabel Normand (one of the few sympathetic characters in this story,) the sad, tormented ingenue Mary Miles Minter, Taylor's eccentric valet Henry Peavey (depicted much more sensitively and positively than most other accounts of the case,) and a host of grifters, blackmailers, killers, drug addicts, and desperate wanna-be stars.

Mann's scenario of how Taylor died is interesting, if impossible to prove. It cannot be accepted as the "final word," but it's certainly not implausible. However, it should be noted that his premise rests entirely on one woman's alleged death-bed confession. If you question whether this elderly, mentally unstable woman was speaking the truth--or for that matter, if she really made this confession at all--Mann has virtually no evidence on which to base his theory.

As thorough as Mann's book is in most respects, he does make a few odd omissions. He barely mentions the curious fact that Taylor's brother, Dennis Deane-Tanner, also abandoned his family and disappeared. It has been proposed, as a matter of fact, that Dennis was really Taylor's sinister former valet, "Edward Sands." Not long before the murder, Sands robbed Taylor and vanished--yet another puzzling element to this endlessly mysterious case. (Mann states that Sands was never seen again, although other accounts claim that the ex-valet was found dead under suspicious circumstances.) I believe Mann made a mistake in dismissing all possibility that brother Dennis and Sands the valet somehow figured in the murder. Like many researchers who fall in love with a particular theory, he seizes on any scrap that might prove his pet thesis, while deliberately ignoring anything that argues for rival "solutions."

Still, this book is wonderfully absorbing reading. Even if you have little interest in true crime, the soap-opera like saga found in these pages is almost certain to draw you in.