SISTERS IN DEATH: The Black Dahlia, the Prairie Heiress, and Their Hunter

With recently declassified documents, law-enforcement records, victim correspondence, and interviews with living witnesses, Frankel also connects Short’s murder to the 1941 murder of Kansas City socialite Leila Welsh, presenting the argument that one man killed both women.

Frankel’s research is undoubtedly impressive: from geographic details to military records to disregarded witness accounts, there’s a wealth of detail. His writing is immersive, plunging readers into the mid-20th-century malice of a post-war American dream turned nightmare, as well as the shameless combination of both Hollywood glamour and ruthless violence in Tinseltown and beyond. “Gripping and chilling…” reads early praise from true-crime authors, “will change everything you thought you knew about the Black Dahlia.”

Nonetheless, the book is likely to turn off those who prefer their scholarship with less showmanship. Frankel has some scenes that can feel sensationalist, especially with crime-scene descriptions. He also—again, knowingly, to his credit—makes leaps that will not be plausible to all readers; the stretch from two victims six years and 1,600 miles apart to one serial killer is an argument based on conjecture.

For those committed to true-crime history, Sisters in Death is an unabashed, not-to-be-missed addition to a case many have been covering for decades. Read it at least in part to see Frankel’s argument, as the Black Dahlia case is now inarguably his, whether the theory proves or not. But either way, it keeps the Black Dahlia story alive—no longer as a cautionary Hollywood myth, but as pure, active evidence.

So, whether you consider yourself a student of the silver screen’s shadow world or simply a newcomer to the Dahlia legend, this book is a must-read. But, as always with true-crime history, take your skepticism along with your wonder. -- Reviewed by Allan R. Ellenberger for The Hollywoodland Revue.