Customer Reviews

Black Dahlia Avenger: The True Story

5 star:		(72)
4 star:		(36)
3 star:		(20)
2 star:		(22)
1 star:		(70)

 

 

Quoting from AP reporter Linda Deutsch's review of this book as published in Denver's Rocky Mountain News on April 15, 2003:

"When District Attorney Steven Cooley decided recently to release the long-secret files on the [Black Dahlia] case, Steve Hodel's theory gained substance. His father's photograph was in the file, along with transcripts of electronic surveillance on his home for three weeks in 1950.

The reports on onionskin paper that is yellowed make clear that Dr. Hodel was a prime suspect in the investigation of Short's murder. . . . The transcripts of overheard conversations include a statement in Hodel's voice saying, 'Supposin' I did kill the Black Dahlia. They couldn't prove it now. They can't talk to my secretary anymore because she's dead.'"

This may not be conclusive (and may well be to obscure for anyone who has not read the book) but it does prove that Dr. Hodel was the wealthy and influential Hollywood resident referred to by the grand jury and it proves that the LAPD or the DA's investigators zeroed in on Dr. Hodel without benefit of the two pictures that may or may not be Short that began the author's investigation.

I, of course, do not know whether the author's theory is wrong or right. I found this book to be highly entertaining and I think that it may have lit a fuse that may solve the case once and for all. At the very least, it has caused previously secret files to be released. I see a film all right, but not an Oliver Stone film, this should be a film by somebody who cares whether a story is true or false. This theory deserves to be taken seriously.

Okay, I've read this fascinating/horrifying book and I'm convinced that Steve Hodel is right - his father, Hollywood insider Dr. George Hodel, was the killer of the Black Dahlia and, most likely a dozen or more other unfortunate women. Respected LA DA Steven Kaye, co-prosecutor of the Manson family, agrees.

Now, here's what's bothering me... I've googled the book, and there are a number of folks out there who are unwilling to look the truth in the eye and accept it. One writer, who's been trashing the book, has an obvious agenda - he has a decade-long investment as a "Black Dahlia Avenger" himself. If Hodel's right, he's wrong. Bye bye book deal. I guess that if Hodel's theories are right, there won't be any more books to debate, like the one by the certifiable woman who claims "her" father did it, or any of the other "theorists." Sorry, the Black Dahlia franchise ends here, folks.

The conclusions reached in the book are the result of several years of grunt work by a veteran of over 300 homicide investigations for the LAPD, over 80% of which he solved. He's a detective with a spotless reputation, and having checked him out at a local book signing, I can tell you he's bright, articulate and extremely believable. If George Hodel was the embodiment of evil (as the daughter he molested at 14 insists), his son is his polar opposite. Hodel junior is someone, who, with a similar amount of brain power as his twisted father, used his power for good.

I don't know if it was nationally publicized, but Steve Lopez, the LA Times reporter assigned to the book, was extremely skeptical when he began his story. In fact, he remained so even after interviewing Hodel. So he called in some favors, and was able to look where Hodel couldn't - the files of the LA DA. In them, Lopez found evidence that corroborated Hodel's - the doctor's house had been bugged and there are damning transcripts.

I was skeptical myself, no more. And neither will you once you read this compellingly grisly tome. If true tales of sadism, deviant sex, murder, blackmail, incest, arrogance, corruption, compulsion and cover-ups are your thing, you're gonna love Black Dahlia Avenger!

At least two other people think their fathers did. While this book is far better researched than the tabloidish My Daddy Was the Black Dahlia Killer, the two theories have something in common-- seriously weird fathers. However Hodel has the advantage that his father was once considered a viable suspect by the L.A. police in this notorious 1947 crime.

Even without the Black Dahlia hook, Steve Hodel's story of growing up on the west coast is interesting. With his parents at times among a very fast and easy setincluding John Huston and Man Ray, he covers a period that does not get a lot of attention these days. The Franklin Street house-- its architect was the son of Frank Lloyd Wright-- was something I had never heard about before. (It actually looks a bit tasteless but fascinating-- a house shaped like a Mayan temple.) Steve Hodel's own first marriage reads like something out of a screenplay written for a movie of the period.

If you don't choose to agree with the theory of the case he presents, this book is still well worth buying and reading.

I knew nothing about The Black Dahlia murder when I picked this book up. I made the mistake of reading the first chapter when I got home, and ended up compelled to read this cover to cover over the next 36 hours. As Hodel peels back the many layers of this tale of mid-century LAPD corruption, Hollywood lust and glamour, personal family drama and serial murder, he balances the explication of rigorous detective and forensic work with a true storyteller's sense of drama. This expose sheds light on the many dark corners of our justice system, the underside of Los Angeles and indeed the human psyche - and makes the stuff of Elmore Leonard, Raymond Chandler and James Ellroy nearly pale by comparison. Like a true crime cross between Silence of the Lambs and L.A. Confidential. Strongly recommend. Be warned however - the material here is gruesome at times, and not for the faint of heart.

Like Jack The Ripper, the Black Dahlia murder is "solved" every time a new book comes out with each new author offering up a "shocking" new suspect overlooked by the police. In 1995's DADDY WAS THE BLACK DAHLIA KILLER, Janice Knowlton unmasked her abusive father as the killer. Now we have BLACK DAHLIA AVENGER by Steve Hodel who claims that, you guessed it, HIS father killed the Black Dahlia. Hodel's book is very well researched and he does give us some intriguing new details about the Dahlia's final days, but the case Hodel makes against his father is shockingly thin and mars an otherwise compelling look at the crime.

The author's entire case -- and the only thing that links his father to Elizabeth Short a.k.a. the Black Dahlia -- is based on two photographs of a unidentified woman Hodel found in his dead father's photo album. Hodel identifies the woman in the photos as Elizabeth Short, and reproduces them in the book as "Exhibit 7." The problem is the woman in the photos is clearly NOT Elizabeth Short! Incredibly, Hodel provides no outside verification from Dahlia experts, the LAPD, or surviving family that the woman in the pictures is, indeed, the infamous Black Dahlia. (Aside from the cover, the book contains no pictures of the real Elizabeth Short -- perhaps to avoid direct comparison?). Hodel goes on to claim that his father's handwriting matches the handwriting on notes sent to the newspapers by a man who claimed to be the killer; the "Black Dahlia Avenger" of the title. Here Hodel does provide detailed outside confirmation and makes a strong case. But writing a crank letter does not mean you're the real killer. Over 30 people "confessed" to the crime during this same time. Besides, most experts now believe the "Avenger" letters were the work of journalists trying to keep the sensational story alive. Hodel goes on to claim his father killed dozens of other women (none were mutilated like the Dahlia) and a massive police cover-up -- a "Dahliagate" -- prevented him from being caught. That explains why his father's name does not appear in the voluminous Dahlia crime files. Okay? Now, I have no doubt Hodel's father was an abusive and sadistic character (he was eventually arrested for incest), but the Dahlia killer? Heck, Mary Pacios makes a more compelling case for Orson Wells as the killer in her book CHILDHOOD SHADOWS: THE HIDDEN STORY OF THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER.

In the end, I have to put this book alongside the Knowlton book as yet another example of that strange delusion that one's parent killed the Black Dahlia. It's too bad; Hodel is a good researcher and a good writer, but his father issue (the true nature of which is most revealing in his epilogue) spoils what could have been an excellent, objective look at the Dahlia crime and the available evidence. And I found it disappointing that in 467 pages we learn precious little about the woman herself. John Gilmore's SEVERED: THE TRUE STORY OF THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER remains the outstanding book about the case. Not that Gilmore's pet suspect (a drifter named Jack Anderson Wilson) is any more convincing, but at least Gilmore seeks to discover the girl behind the famous moniker, Black Dahlia, and that to me is the more intriguing mystery.

After I finished reading the book, a friend of mine asked me what I thought of the book. I told her that it was my opinion the book was a very compelling read, and not because I believe that Mr. Hodel solved the whodunit of the century. On the contrary, I never believed Mr. Hodel solved anything. I will agree with those who state that the book contains quite a bit of circumstantial evidence, sometimes very little evidence, leaps of faith and rhetoric. However, I disagree with those who believe this book is undeserving of more than one star because Mr. Hodel fails to proffer enough evidence to support his theories. While I admit I bought the book based upon the declaration that the Black Dahlia murder was solved, I didn't toss the book across the room in disgust because the murder was not, in fact, solved. You can pretty much determine within the first 100 pages that this book is based largely on conjecture. So why continue reading? Because I became fascinated by the story of Steve Hodel, his psychotic father and his dysfunctional family. I was engrossed by discussions of other murders that took place in the 40s and 50s, of which I was unfamiliar, and thoroughly, morbidly entertained by Steve Hodel's journey. Thus, what I found compelling about this book was the way in which the scarred psyche of the author drove him to conclude that his father was a "psychotic serial murderer" and the question of whether the murder was solved rather fell into the background.

From a perusal of the various reviews about this book, readers often attack Hodel about the photos he believes are Elizabeth Short, found by Hodel in his father's possessions, (which apparently the family of Ms. Short has unequivocally stated that they are not photos of her). While I found that the photos bore very little resemblance to Ms. Short, that conviction did not prevent me from reading the book. As I indicated, it impelled me to continue reading, out of curiousity, as to how Mr. Hodel was going to attempt to build a case against his father. And spun a web he did.

I also noticed a distinct trend in the reasons discussed by those who truly hold this book in contempt. For example, some readers who reviewed the book called it "exploitative trash," "twaddle," "highly promoted fabrication," or "nothing but hyperbolic self-importance." Others bemoaned the fact that they expected "far more after all the hype about the Black Dahlia case being solved." If your expectations are that a great mystery is solved and the author fails to meet those expectations, then understandably the book would be a huge let down. However, it is clear that there are individuals out there who firmly believe that Mr. Hodel developed a convincing case against his father and solved the murder of the Black Dahlia and possibly the murders of the other women during that time.

As for those who dismiss the book as an attempt to capitalize on the unsolved murder, well, that may be true, but when is any novel based upon sensationalistic murders not an attempt to capitalize on the subject. Interestingly, the reviews of Hodel's book are very similar in vain to the responses achieved by Patricia D. Cornwell's novel, Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper -- Case Closed. You either believe them and love the book, or you disbelieve them and find the book wanting. Regardless, Hodel has succeeded as an author in that he created a work that successfully opened the door to debate and sells copy to boot.

So for those individuals who are deciding whether to purchase this book, based upon the diametrical opinions you will find in these reviews, I think the best thing to do is decide what you expect from the book and whether you want to pay for it, to determine if the book will live up to your expectations. When in doubt, check the book out from the library, borrow it from a friend or wait for paperback.

There's a ton of reviews here, so I'll cut the plot synopsis to the quick.

The author finds two photographs of Elizabeth Short -- the victim in the Black Dahlia murders -- in his father's possessions. Now, the author is an ex-LAPD detective and launches his own investigation into the crime and comes to the conclusion that his father was the killer.

In order of proof there are a number of conclusions that come to light.

1. There was a cover-up of the crime in terms of distruction of evidence and basically nobody gives a hoot about this case inside the LAPD anymore (This one seems awfully clear to me)

2. His father was a suspect in the case (documents did come to light that showed this)

3. His father was a nasty piece of work -- and had even nnastier friends (again, clear)

4. His father was being "protected" through freinds in the corrupt LA/LAPD at the time (again, fairly clear, if not for this murder for something)

Now his also concludes....

5. His father was the prime suspect in the murder (harder to say since much evidence is missing)

6. His father and an accomplish actually committed the murders (now a LOT of the other reviews take issue with this. I'll say its at least a case where the circumstantial evidence the remained and was also uncovered fits the theory -- along with the outside expertise, such as handwriting analysis, that Hodel was able to bring in)

7. His father was a serial killer of possibly dozens of victims. (on this last one Hodel even admits that some assignments are tenuous. I felt that he threw every murder at his dad and tried to make them stick here).

The book was detailed -- examined the evidence as well as could be -- and the conclusion was plausible enough to me. I found it pursuasive.

Read it yourself for your own opinion though. The block for it being 5 starts to me was the attempt at the end to bring in every unrelated murder.

Even if you aren't convinced of Hodel's father's guilt, you will take away a portrait of LA in the post-WWII era through the image of a very disturbed member of the LA decadent elite.

This book is irritating. It is so unconvincing. The photos in Dad's album don't even appear to be Elizabeth Short, and I'm glad to see other reviewers thought so too. The leaps in logic that the author uses are absurd. He turns speculation on one page into "evidence" a few pages later, when he summarizes "what we now know." Maybe Dad knew the suspect in another murder and maybe borrowed his car from a hotel garge and went on a date and killed his date and and returned the car, ergo now we know Dad did it... The victim said she was dating an army air force lieutenant stationed in Texas, and Dad was a lieutentant general in the health and relief service stationed in China, so it might be Dad, yeh, I'll bet it was him ... so now let's build a chronology of their love life ... and so on. Dad once drew with lipstick on a woman's breasts at a party, and that's just like the killer who wrote with lipstick on a body, compelling proof indeed ... Handwriting on notes from the "killer" to newspapers after the murder is analyed. From the analyst's comment that the handwriting is that of an educated person, Hodel notes that Dad was educated and ergo... Another comment is that the author of the notes wrote headlines like a journalist, so Hodel notes that Dad self-published a literary magazine and worked for a while as a journalist in his teens, ergo... Hodel doesn't mention the possibility - written about elsewhere - that newsmen themselves wrote the notes in a circulation war, with the police allowing it in hopes to incite the killer to step forward himself. How did Dad's handwriting get on those notes? Hodel never bothers to discuss other theories and suspects. He only states with all his authority as a real, retired detective that he's unconvinced by other books.... A waste of time and money.

I assume that those who are reading this are familiar with the "Black Dahlia" case and may even have read the hardcover version of Steve Hodel's book, so I will dive right into the controversy. No, the purported photos of Elizabeth Short that he found in his father's album do not look exactly like the famous photograph that adorns the cover. However, there is a full page of ES photos that has been added to the paperback edition, and guess what: in none of those photographs does she look exactly the same as the cover photo, either! Short had an unusual bone structure that causes her face to look different from different angles; her weight fluctuations (she is somewhat pudgy in the newly-discovered photos) also cause her face to photograph differently. Conclusive? No.

So we are left to ponder the weight of the evidence that Hodel has accumulated against his father. In addition to handwriting comparisons that seem convincing to me as a layperson, the most convincing argument is the posing of Short's corpse to almost EXACTLY re-create a photograph by Man Ray ("Minotaur"). Let's see now: how many skilled physicians in L.A. knew Man Ray personally, collected his work, had him make nude photographs of his pubescent daughter, participated in sex parties with him, and, like Ray, was intimately familiar with the works of the Marquis DeSade? And knew exactly how to manipulate the press from his days as a former (violent)crime reporter? I would argue that the list of people fitting this description is a very short one and at the top is Dr. Hodel.

If not a literary masterpiece, the book is a good read and Hodel makes what is to me a very convincing case. The Dahlia "buffs" seem unhappy to have any closure to the case which is their obsession. They seem to discount all the other evidence against Dr. Hodel because the resemblance between photographs is inconclusive. Look at the juxtaposition of the crime scene photo with Ray's "Minotaur" - there is no question that the arrangement of the corpse is a perverted attempt at duplicating the work of Dr. Hodel's close friend Man Ray (who fled the country shortly after the investigation of Hodel was at its peak). Maybe another investigator without an agenda should follow up on Steve Hodel's solid leads instead of armchair detectives knocking down his work.

I've read just about everything I can find about this fascinating case, and this is the most credible, convincing, and engaging one I've found. It is long, but I could not put it down. First, this writer has the highest credentials among the group of writers on this subject that includes some wackos and wannabes: he is the son of his own suspect and served many years as a senior homicide detective in L.A. The book is intriguing on many levels: as a steamy insight into L.A. life and crime in those days; as an exposure of the true depth of corruption present in L.A. law enforcement at the time; as an honest record of family abuse & pain; and, maybe most important, as a comprehensive historical record of all the true facts about this case still available.
Whether you agree with Hodel's theory or not (I obviously do), this book is the most informative and factual you will find.