Porter Down, prodigal private investigator, takes a perilously deep dive into the most notorious unsolved Hollywood mystery of all time!
Award-winning author Gregory William Mank takes the reader on a wild and wicked time machine ride back to Golden Age Hollywood, and the events surrounding the shocking death of MGM producer Paul Bern, 65 days (and nights) after his marriage to Platinum Blonde Bombshell, Jean Harlow. Was it suicide? Was it murder? The novel weaves exhaustive research with fictional flourishes, including a deadly female pornographer/blackmailer. Cameo appearances from such Big Screen luminaries as Clark Gable, Joan Crawford, Fredric March, Lionel Atwill, Louis B. Mayer, and Irving Thalberg abound. And what part might the notorious real-life mobster/Harlow's previous paramour and protector "Longie" Zwillman, have played in the events surrounding Bern's death?
Ultimately, the book offers a fictional - but credible - solution to Bern's demise, based on the real-life events of 91-years-ago. A sordid yet heart-breaking saga, this novel is the second of the Porter Down Hollywood Mysteries (following the acclaimed Frankenstein's Witch: St. Lizzie, Pray for Us), and includes photographs relevant to the case and suspects.
Hollywood's Golden Age lives again with a vengeance in this manic mix of fact and fiction!
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Gregory William Mank is an acclaimed film historian whose books include the first Porter Down Hollywood Mystery, Frankenstein's Witch: St. Lizzie, Pray for Us, and the non-fiction It's Alive! The Classic Cinema Saga of Frankenstein and Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff: A Haunting Collaboration. His recent book for BearManor, Of Mice and Men: Mental Enfeeblement, Racism, and Mercy-Killing in 1939 Hollywood, has been nominated for the Richard Wall Memorial Award annually presented by the New York Library of the Performing Arts. He has written and narrated the audio commentaries for the DVD/Blu-Ray releases of such films as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931), The Black Cat (1934), Cat People (1942), and The Lodger (1944), written scores of magazine articles, and appeared on many documentaries, including the recent theatrical release Boris Karloff: The Man Behind the Monster (2021). Greg lives in Delta, PA with his wife, Barbara.
