Killer In Drag [Mass Market Paperback]

Ed Wood Jr. (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 13, 1999

Meet Ed Wood's alter ego Glen/Glenda, whose ravishing beauty and musical voice bewitch every male in sight. Impeccably attired in either gender, hired assassin Glen becomes Glenda when it's time to work. But big trouble starts when Glenda decides to give up the murder racket, take up with a sugar daddy, and finance a sex change operation.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Ed Wood, Jr., was a director, producer, screenwriter, actor, novelist, and cross-dresser. He died in 1978.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Four Walls Eight Windows; 2nd edition (May 13, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1568581203
• ISBN-13: 978-1568581200
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #428,441 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ed Wood's literary "masterpiece", December 11, 2001

By 

Jeffrey Ellis "bored recluse" (Richardson, Texas United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Killer In Drag (Mass Market Paperback)

Even while Ed Wood was scraping to get together the resources necessary to make his infamous films (and earning an underserved reputation as the worst director of all time), he was also making side money by writing literally hundreds of pulp and "adult" novels. Killer in Drag, considered to be his signature novel, was written when Wood was on the verge of sinking into his final alcoholic decline. It deals with Wood's favorite theme -- a strong, heterosexual man who enjoys dressing up as a woman. In this case, Glen is also Glenda. Hoping to raise the money for a sex change operation, Glen works as a contract killer for "the syndicate." However, in one of the less convuluted plot twists of the book, Glen is then unjustly accused of the one murder he didn't commit. Glen is forced to go on the run. Ending up in a backwater town, Glen also ends up purchasing a used carnival and finding himself the prey of two corrupt cops. Even as Glen struggles to keep Glenda from taking over his own personality, he finds time to pursue a romance with an understanding prostitute and to bond with an alcoholic drag queen. This is the type of plot that only Ed Wood could come up with and if you're a fan of the man's films, you'll find a lot to enjoy in this book. Is the book trash? You bet. Is it even a good book? Um...no, not really. But it is a lot of fun for Wood devotees who, by this point, should know what to expect.

It should also be pointed out that this book proves that, even if he wasn't talented, Ed Wood still doesn't deserve to be known as the worst director or writer ever to work in Hollywood. While the dialouge in this book (and his films) is often flat and full of terrible jokes, is it really any worse than that to be found in Titanic or Star Wars: Episode 1 or the collected works of Bret Easton Ellis? What comes through, most sadly, in this book is a sense of overwhelming sincerity. No matter how ludicrous the plot, its obvious that Wood is attempting to tell a touching story that, underneath the pulp stylings, contains a plea for tolerance for men (like Wood himself) who enjoyed wearing women's clothing. There's a niave quality to the book's attempt to be hard-bioled pulp that is almost child-like and, in a way, almost endearing. And, unlike several other writers, Wood actually does manage to pull off one compelling chapter in which the drag queen Shrilee opens up to Glen about his tragic past and the persecution he's suffered as a result of his preference. Its a short chapter but well written and for a few pages, Wood is obviously writing from his soul. No, it doesn't mean that Wood was actually a brilliant talent waiting to be discovered. But it does show that Wood did possess an actual sensitivity and compassion for his subjects -- no matter how ludicrous a plot he may have constructed to showcase that sensitivity. It also shows that Wood, no matter how untalented a dreamer he may have been, deserves more than to be simply laughed off as "the worst writer/director of all time."

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Very Entertaining, October 1, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Killer In Drag (Mass Market Paperback)

If you have never read and Ed Wood book--like I hadn't--then this is a great one to start with. Highly entertaining and suspenseful and not at all what you might expect. What else could you ask for? Jason Starr (author of Cold Caller and Nothing Personal)

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I could NOT put this book down!!!!, October 19, 2001

By 

VD (vdbooks) "VD" (Somewhere in New England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Killer In Drag (Mass Market Paperback)

Fairies and dragons and witches and gnomes aren't real, but they bore the phlegm out of me. High-heeled, cross-dressing hit men aren't real either, but they fascinate me, especially when delivered with the earnestness and raw sensibilities of an over-indulgent Ed Wood Jr.


This book has it all. Murder, mayhem, and endless wardrobe minutiae. More intelligible than its sequel, Death of a Transvestite, Killer in Drag puts the P back into pulp. And puts it back into pumps, too.