<p>On a chilly Monday morning in 1935, a young maid opened the garage door of a Southern California seaside villa onto a grim scene. Her employer, a popular motion picture comedienne, lay dead in the front seat of her expensive automobile. Within hours, the news of Thelma Todd’s death was making headlines throughout the nation. Was it murder, suicide, or accident?Cast against the background of Hollywood and Los Angeles, the film industry and the growing metropolis, her death baffled both the public and the investigating authorities. After numerous attempts to solve the mystery over the last eighty years, a powerful mythology remains, obscuring the facts of the case as well as the character of Thelma herself.For the first time, however, the mystery of Thelma Todd’s death will unfold as it originally did in 1935. Not only does Testimony of a Death narrate the events of that December but it also explores the forces and personalities central to the tragedy.The book examines the various contexts of Todd’s death, including the motion picture business in its Golden Age and the city of Los Angeles hovering on the verge of its greatness. It looks beyond the legends and distortions to the darker reality that lies beneath the myths.</p>

Testimony of a Death: Thelma Todd: Mystery, Media and Myth in 1935 Los Angeles

Humor & Entertainment

Jenning, Patrick

Croddy, Marshall

Movies

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

<p>Raymond is remembered by historians today for surviving a bomb placed in his automobile by a secret squad of the Los Angeles Police Department.  After the bombing, newspapers across the country ran photographs showing him stalwartly smoking a cigarette while doctors removed shrapnel from his legs.  This brazen attempt on his life would transform Los Angeles, leading to the recall of the mayor, the termination of many Los Angeles Police Department leaders, and the imprisonment of members of a secret LAPD police squad.  The assassination attempt would also fuel the growth of Las Vegas, to where many LA underworld figures migrated afterward.For some, Harry Raymond would go down in Los Angeles history as a modern knight in the story of the city's corrupt days, a real-life Philip Marlowe.  Others, looking back at his previous career, regarded him as the kind of cop Marlowe hated:  brutal and unscrupulous.  Although Raymond often worked for the LAPD as a special investigator, he also associated with leading underworld figures of the twenties and thirties.  Although it was never clear which side he was on, there was no doubt that he knew a lot about what was wrong with Los Angeles and almost paid the ultimate price for his knowledge.While my book focuses mainly on Raymond's career, its backdrop is LA's growth in the first decades of the twentieth century.  It not only tells Raymond's story for the first time but also recounts the history of LA's criminal underworld in the pre-War era.  It should appeal both to the general public and scholars interested in the history of Los Angeles in the first part of the twentieth century.</p>

The Long Winding Road of Harry Raymond: A Detective's Journey Down the Mean Streets of Pre-War Los Angeles

Biographies & Memoirs

Professionals & Academics

Bay City Press

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Jenning, Patrick. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Jenning, Patrick