On February 1 1922 the distinguished silent-film director William Desmond Taylor was shot to death in his Los Angeles bungalow by an unknown assailant. Reports of strange activities at the scene of the crime circulated soon after. When the police arrived was the head of Paramount Studios burning a bundle of papers in the fireplace and was a well-known actress searching the house for letters she claimed were hers? Despite a full-scale investigation the case was never solved; for sixty years is has remained a lingering Hollywood scandal. In 1967 more than forty years after Taylor s death the great King Vidor whose directing credits include Northwest Passage The Fountainhead Duel in the Sun and War and Peace determined to solve the mystery which had haunted him throughout his career in order to make a film about it. Through his intimate knowledge of both the studios and the stars he succeeded where dozens of professional detectives had failed in discovering the identity of the murderer. But because his findings were so explosive he decided he could never go public and locked his evidence away. After Vidor s death in 1982 Sidney D. Kirkpatrick Vidor s authorized biographer gained access to the evidence and reconstructed the amazing story of Taylor s murder and Vidor s investigation. With a cast of suspects that includes the actress Mabel Normand a reputed drug addict; the beautiful ing nue Mary Miles Minter; Mary s domineering mother Charlotte Shelby; Taylor s homosexual houseman; and Taylor s secretary who bore an uncanny resemblance to Taylor s mysteriously elusive brother this true crime story has all the elements of a classic murder mystery. Covered up for more than half a century the full story can now be told in all its riveting shocking detail. Author: Sidney D. Kirkpatrick Publisher: Booksurge Publishing Published: 03/20/2007 Pages: 336 Binding Type: Paperback Weight: 0.77lbs Size: 7.99h x 5.24w x 0.70d ISBN: 9781419677465