William J. Mann

Harper

And you thought Hollywood was out-of-control now! The 1920s motion-picture world - and all the attendant sex and drugs and crime that a melodrama fan could hope for - is colorfully recreated in this nonfiction tome. The ostensible focus is the never-solved murder of director William Desmond Taylor. But what's really fascinating are the larger-than-life characters and wild times. Mann writes vivid portraits of the likes of Mabel Normand, a top-level star who indulged in too much cocaine, and Mary Miles Minter, a young actress who pursued for older directors and who chafed under the control of her aggressively protective mother. Mann writes with wonderful detail and with the pulp sensibility this type of tale needs. A great read.

- KRISTINA DORSEY