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The DD Group: An Online Investigation Into the Death of Marilyn Monroe

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David Marshall has taken on quite the task of organizing and presenting a years worth of online discussions based on Marilyn Monroe's last days in his new book, "THE DD GROUP; An Online Investigation Into the Death of Marilyn Monroe" and he has done it admirably.

Having had the privilege of starting the online club Forever Marilyn's Death Discussion (www.forevermarilyn.com) and being one of the original members that contributed to the discussion which lead to the writing of this book I am personally pleased to share with you my review of this highly unique book on Marilyn Monroe's death.

With all the controversy that still swirls around Ms. Monroe's untimely death here is FINALLY a book that takes on every theory fearlessly and without prejudice. Diving head first into Marilyn's final days is a group of educated scholars on Monroe's life, each one with a different and valid opinion on her mysterious death.

This 497 paged soft-covered book is well worth the $30.95 cover charge. Aimed at educating the reader on the facts of Marilyn's death this book goes well beyond the confines of the timeline of August 4, 1962. The cast of characters in Monroe's life, as well as the events surrounding her last days are mapped out in the 23 chapters of this hefty book. The only draw back to this nonfictional piece of work is the lack of an index. But with each chapter covering so specific of details you hardly notice this tiny omission.

Much of the material in this phenomenal book is new in presentation. Facts on Monroe's death that you thought you knew are thrown into question and material never before released is presented in a revealing and titillating light that may startle even the most educated of readers.

Mr. Marshall skillfully lays out the theories of the original ten online DD Discussion Members in a format that is easily accessible to even the most novice of fans and is backed by impeccable research. From start to finish this book is riveting, holding the reader spellbound as you are challenged to come to your own opinion by the end of the book. That is not to say conclusions are not drawn by the author himself, but Mr. Marshall allows for plenty of room for the reader to take the information available and form their own opinion.

If you have ever wondered about or questioned the death of one of the world's greatest (and most tragic of) movies stars then this is, without hesitation, THE Marilyn Monroe book for you!

David Marshall's "The DD Group: An Online Investigation Into the Death of Marilyn Monroe" is a must-read for anyone interested in learning the truth about the premature demise of Hollywood's most enduring star. The book examines all aspects of Miss Monroe's death by carefully reconstructing her final hours and analyzing the facts in a logical, detailed, and organized manner. Medical and forensics evidence is carefully dissected, and the possible agendas and questionable credibility of several key associates of Miss Monroe's {as well as a number of contemporary biographers} is presented for consideration. The book contains numerous startling new facts never revealed in any other Monroe biography, information which is compelling, ground-breaking and startling in the extreme. The intense research conducted by the participants of the group is impressive and unprecedented, and Mr. Marshall did an admirable job condensing what must have been an intimidatingly vast amount of information into a concise, well-written and thoroughly gripping investigative report. I highly recommend this book to anyone searching for the truth about what happened to Marilyn Monroe on the night she died. Fact and fantasy will become very easy to discern, and readers will arrive at a possible conclusion which is credible, realistic, and devoid of sensationalism. This book is a tremendous accomplishment, and you will never look at the death of Marilyn Monroe the same way again.

What a remarkable detailed account of Marilyn's last days. The book focuses mostly on the last day however gives detailed information from other times that relate to the events on Aug.4, 1962. This would be a good book for someone just beginning to research MM or for someone who has read all before it and has their own conclusions about her death, since this book references other popular biographies written about Marilyn. This book is great becuase it's only purpose is to provide detailed information both before and after death so as to help the reader decide on their own conclusion. Although the author has his own beliefs which he shares with the reader, there is absolutely no intention of pursuasion to try and promote any one idea or theory. A personal thanks goes out to David Marshall and all who helped make this book possible, as it the best read on Marilyn Monroe I have come across yet. I have read many biographies and documentaries on Marilyn, and absolutely could not put this book down. I hope all others will enjoy it as much as I have.

Just finished the book this morning. Couldn't put it down since I purchased it a couple of days ago! I believe it has demystified so much here about Marilyn that it has to be very close to the last word on the subject. I took an interest in MM a few years ago and read many books on her. I was so impressed with her life that I wrote a three-act play called "Bye Bye Baby" about her last thee days. It hasn't been staged yet but one lives in hope! It was heavily biased by the Slatzer, Wolfe angle [murder] but since I read this book I'll have to re-write it removing this bias. After I read it I immediately went to Matthew Smith's Last Words to see if the DD Group's versions matched in any way. I believe, with a little bit of editing, it has second-guessed the Marilyn's tapes which weren't published at the time! It all makes sense now!!! However, although I really believed all along that she had been murdered, I now believe she did kill herself and that she made her mind up after RFK'S visit. It would seem that her whole world caved in then. When she asked Dr. Greenson "Did you take my Nembutal?" I think she was calling his bluff. She probably told him earlier that she only had one or two left and hid the 24 or 25. He may well have given her a shot of a small, controlled amount of Nembutal, with this knowledge in mind, when he returned, advising her to go to bed immediately. [I think most psychiatrists can and do give shots]. Remember that her total well-being depended almost entirely the esteem in which the Kennedys held her. If that was lost irretrievably, MM was lost. And it looked pretty final at 4.00 that Saturday. Dr. Greenson alone couldn't keep her from ending her life, even though he was indispensable to her in many ways. She was too intelligent for them all but must have made up her mind that afternoon.
MM must have felt lonelier that evening than any other time in her life and in that lonely bed in Brentwood she must have sobbed herself into that deep, deep sleep. I do believe now that she did say "Say goodbye to Jack..." to Peter Lawford. It's so, so tragic.
This book is a wonderful, intelligent and compassionate insight!!! I am forever in their debt.


Seoirse O Dochartaigh, Donegal, Ireland

This book made me re-examine my opinion as to the death of the great Marilyn Monroe. The book was so well researched (by so many), debated and documented. I actually changed my opinion as to the mode of her tragic demise because of it...I still don't believe that MM intended to commit suicide, which correlates to BOTH of the author's final speculations as to how she died, but I am swayed by the opinion that others were (innocently) responsible for her death, due to gross negligence. This negligence made it absolutely necessary to hide the real way MM died. (it saved careers)...Her Dr.'s. had an unknowing hand in her death, and even Mrs. Murray, which would fit in to why she said, "Why, oh why, after all these years, do I have to keep hiding this..." Marilyn did not intentionally commit suicide...That is my opinion after reading this excellent book. Your opinion may be different...That is what is so great about this novel...It leaves room for the reader to formulate their own opinion based upon the facts presented...Read and enjoy!

I couldn't put this book down. Anyone who is seriously interested and familiar with the stories surrounding Marilyn Monroe's death should buy this book. DD started as an online group to cut through the bull and false stories about MM's death and come up with what probably did happen.I won't spoil the ending, but any fan should have this on their shelf.

Great book. If you are interested in theories and thoughts of other Marilyn fans, this is the book to read.

I liked the format of this book, researcher sharing comments and formulating their opinions. Perhaps a better way of looking at what happened than individual writers have done. Worth a look see.

The group called the DD group grew out of a fan site discussing MM's death. Out of this collection a 500 page tome has been published which attempts to rehash into infinity the minute by minute account of Marilyn's last days. They attempt also to take us all back to 1962. We are to believe that everything the Coroner released, "probable" suicide is actually true! After 45 years we are to drop the thousands of words that have been pinned making it very clear not only did she not committ suicide, but that she indeed was murdered. This group of clowns who did not know MM, were probably not even born yet, but dismiss people around her who did know her, who did care about her, namely Robert Slatzer. Slatzer was the first person to go public with his knowledge of her last days. Some information had been previously published by Frank Capell in a political 1964 booklet. However, Mr. Slatzer fleshes out MM's days no one could know unless they were close to Monroe. Yet, here he is not only dismissed but labeled a liar. Also, they allude in bulk to two very questionable biographies by Donald Spoto and Barbara Lemmings, as well as the very definition of a liar, Eunice Murray, MM's maid, driver. The best book ever written about MM's last days was by Brown & Barhams 'The Last Take'. There are some incidents of dramatic license and embellishing in this book, but overall it is rock solid. And, Donald Wolfe is the only person to speak with Norman Jeffries, Eunice Murrays son in law who was at Marilyn's the entire day of August 4. If anyone should know what went on, he certainly was privey to all of it. He was a contractor working on MM's Brentwood home, and was at the house on a daily basis. He too is completely dismissed. In other words in order to conform their preferred theory into fact they ignore what they choose to and make up the rest. We might as well have a new Peter Lawford book written as fact as to all he said thru the years. Poor Marilyn, here she cannot even trust those who claim to care about her and allow her to go down in history a suicide. I bought this book, but 50 pages into it I knew what I was in for. After completion is was straight to the trash, this is not a book I would want to keep in my treasures on Marilyn.

After reading COUNTLESS books on Marilyn Monroe's untimely and extremely mysterious death, I was beginning to get frusturated about the fact they were all very biased and didn't even offer up any other explanation except theirs, which most of the time unfortunately was based on the lies of Robert Slatzer (AKA: Mr. Fraud). The books were all saying that Marilyn's death was a straight-up, no-question MURDER. Don't get me wrong, it's fine if you think that it was happened, but please don't ignore the evidence that the murder theory was completely blown out of proportion by people trying to profit off of Marilyn's image.
Around the time I was starting to get ready to give up on trying to find out what really happened to Hollywood's most iconic legend, a friend of mine recommended that I read "The DD Group." I was hesitant at first to spend another sum of money on a Marilyn book, considering I already owned pretty much every other one in publishing history, but in the end after my friend convinced me that it was amazing and was a really great read, I decided to buy it and see what all of my friend's hype was about.
I am glad I did! "The DD Group" is a F-A-N-T-A-S-T-I-C book on the death of Marilyn Monroe. It is BY FAR the best I have ever read on the subject at hand. I'm so glad someeone finally took ALL of the evidence and rumors surrounding Marilyn's demise and layed it all out to examine every bit of it, without leaving anything out, and to form a sensible theory that really makes sense.
I won't give away what the group decided was the real truth, because that would be destroying the book's interestingness, but I will say this: if you are a Marilyn Monroe fan yearning to know what really happened to her, you need to READ THIS BOOK!!!!