Hollywood Death Scenes (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Hollywood Death Scenes is the first book in a series of true crime and tragedy tour guides. With over 150 addresses, 50 pictures of Hollywood’s tragic figures, and more than 200 photographs of crime scenes as they appear today, Hollywood Death Scenes will transport the reader to the locations of Los Angeles’s greatest tragedies. The reader will be able to peer inside the dark underbelly of this glamorous city from the safety and comfort of his or her own home. Hollywood Death Scenes will also give the adventurous explorer the necessary tools to experience firsthand some of Hollywood’s most notorious landmarks.

Whether for the armchair detective or the extreme thrill seeker, Hollywood Death Scenes will take the reader to the other side of the yellow crime scene tape. See the sites where such famous Hollywood luminaries as Marilyn Monroe, Phil Hartman, and River Phoenix met their untimely deaths. Witnesses the atrocities committed by some of the world’s most infamous mass murderers. Stare in horror at extended looks into the country’s most twisted serial killers such as The Night Stalker and The Hillside Stranglers. Understand the chaos wrought on an entire city by madman Charles Manson. Delve into the unsolved mysteries of the deaths of celebrities from Natalie Wood to The Black Dahlia. Hollywood Death Scenes lets the reader experience an important part of our culture’s violent history, without the fear of being harmed.

From the Publisher

Peer inside the dark underbelly of this glamorous city and experience some of Hollywood`s most notorious landmarks.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 350 pages
• Publisher: Olmstead Press (September 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 158754010X
• ISBN-13: 978-1587540103
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #103,946 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars VERY FACTUAL REFERENCE., October 12, 2004

By	D. Ciminelli (Struthers, Ohio) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

While visiting my daughter in California, I decided that we should visit Westwood Cemetary. Opon finding it, I was looking for Dorothy Stratten's headstone and was asked by a man if I needed any help. He then started to tell me where most of the famous were enterred; he was Cory Mitchell and when I asked how he knew so much he told me he was writing a book. This book turned out to be "Hollywood Death Scenes". A great book since it is so well researched. It is actually 50 or so small novelettes about each famous person who died around Hollywood. Buy it; you won't regret it!!!!!

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely wonderful book about LA!!!!, November 14, 2001

By	Whitney (Sherman Oaks, CA) - See all my reviews

Hollywood Death Scenes is the perfect purchase for those who are fascinated by Hollywood lore. This book provides many interesting details about the lives and deaths of celebrities we have come to know through their music, television shows, and movies. The familiar tales of Marilyn Monroe, River Phoenix, and John Belushi were wonderfully told. However, the true treat for me were the sections about the celebrities I was less familiar with - and, surprisingly, there were so many of them. I was amazed by the tragic circumstances that lead to the untimely deaths of legends like Lenny Bruce, Marvin Gaye, Sam Cooke, George Reeves, William Holden, Natalie Wood, and Janis Joplin. And the stories about such rising stars as Rebecca Schaeffer and Dominique Dunne showed how quickly Hollywood dreams can come to an end. Also, Hollywood Death Scenes provides fascinating information about tragic events that have affected the millions of "normal" people who live in LA, such as the stories about the havoc wreaked by serial killers Richard Ramirez, Angelo Buono, Ken Bianci, and Charles Manson. With its tales about the lives and deaths of the famous and not-so-famous, Hollywood Death Scenes will definitely give the reader a riveting account of the many, many tragedies that have become so much a part of the history of LA.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How Can You Be Killed? Let Me Count The Ways......, March 2, 2002

By	gail powers "Gail" (Homewood, IL United States) - See all my reviews

Take a walk on the wild side with this one. It can get fairly gruesome (some of the pictures are on the icky side), but it is an interesting collision when crime and the glam capital of the western world collide.
My impression is that even the most innocuous (aka less sensational) crimes seem to take on a darker, more sinister dimension when it happens in LaLaLand.
Be it the Hillside Strangler or Richard Ramirez or Charley Manson, you are going to find this a hard book to put down. You'll look at lesser known perverts and sociopaths and wonder how they all seemed to land in Hollywood. In fact, this is a hard book to shake off after you've finished reading it. It sticks to you like a heavy duty dose of OFF on a sticky summer's night when the mosquitoes are having a feeding frenzy. James Elsworth, where are you!