A Deed Of Death: The Story of the Unsolved Murder of Hollywood Director William Desmond Taylor [Hardcover]

Robert Giroux (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Well-born but disinherited Anglo-Irish actor and one-time Yukon prospector, William Desmond Taylor was a prominent Paramount movie director at the time of his unsolved murder in 1922. Suspects included his secretary Edward Sands, a thief and forger; Henry Peavey, his homosexual black cook; and two flamboyant screen stars: drug-addicted Mabel Normand, whom he loved; and 20-year-old Mary Miles Minter, who yearned to be his mistress. In a meticulous probe that reads like a detective thriller, editor-publisher Giroux ( The Book Known as Q ) makes a strong case that the murderer was a contract killer. He shows that Normand had incurred the wrath of dope peddlers, as did Taylor when he attempted to help her break her addiction. Brimming with details of Hollywood's silent era and its rampant post-WW I drug culture, this procedural offers glimpses of Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin, Sam Goldwyn, Mack Sennett, Fatty Arbuckle. Illustrations.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

The unsolved murder of movie director William Desmond Taylor has attracted amateur sleuths for years, including director King Vidor, whose findings were revealed in Sidney D. Kirkpatrick's best-selling A Cast of Killers ( LJ 7/86). Strangely enough, Farrar, Straus & Giroux publisher Giroux doesn't mention A Cast of Killers in this book on the case, although he obviously disagrees with its conclusion (that a starlet's mother killed Taylor) and its negative portrait of Taylor. While Giroux fails to provide readers with a solution to the crime, movie buffs will nevertheless appreciate his additional background history on the case and his admirable downplay of the scandals of the silent film era. --Susan Caputo, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 275 pages
• Publisher: Knopf; 1st edition (May 26, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0394580753
• ISBN-13: 978-0394580753
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 5.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #129,308 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Logical and Interesting, December 1, 2001

By 

bruce john patience (Melbourne, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Deed Of Death: The Story of the Unsolved Murder of Hollywood Director William Desmond Taylor (Hardcover)

"A Deed of Death" is well worth reading . It provides some interesting information and the author discusses the possible suspects in considerable detail. His final "Summing Up" as to the likely guilt( or otherwise) of certain people is logically set out and the arguments he presents appear to be well supported by acceptable evidence. Perhaps a bit too much space was devoted to seemingly unrelated career details of Mable Normand such as her problems with Samuel Goldwyn which didn't seem to have anything to do with the Taylor case. Also, the author chose not to expand on the fact that Taylor was due to appear in court on the day of his murder as a defence witness for his butler who had been arrested in WestLake Park not long before on a morals charge. Kirkpatrick in "A Cast of Killers" obviously considered this fact to be more significant than Mr Giroux. But, overall this book is very entertaining and the author has managed to dig out some new facts about the central character which are enlightening . Bill Taylor comes across as being a thoroughly decent man who has been wrongly maligned over the years.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The most accurate account yet, August 18, 2007

By 

Dave "Davelandweb" (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Deed Of Death: The Story of the Unsolved Murder of Hollywood Director William Desmond Taylor (Hardcover)

Although I prefer the excitement and narrative of Sidney D. Kirkpatrick's book "A Cast of Killers," Giroux's account of the William Desmond Taylor murder is most likely the definitive version. Very well researched and methodical in its conclusions, it eliminates much of the sensationalism that has been attached to this case over the years (particurlarly Adela Rogers St. John's fanciful accounts). Although a murderer is never named, the murder itself is "solved." Want to know the ending? Buy the book! Although well written, it does lack some of the zing of Kirkpatrick's story.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Best of the WDT Books, October 15, 2004

By 

Tony L. Ford "Minoterrae" (Columbia, South Carolina USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Deed Of Death: The Story of the Unsolved Murder of Hollywood Director William Desmond Taylor (Hardcover)

A Deed of Death is the best of the 3 main William Desmond Taylor books which have been written - the fictional A Cast of Killers and the case study volume William Desmond Taylor: A Dossier - being the other two.

I recommend anyone interested in WD Taylor to have all 3 of these books in their personal library.