Texas Deputy Kent McGowen shot and killed Susan White after she pulled a gun on him. It seemed like an open-and-shut case of an officer acting in self-defense. But before his first court date, the Houston region was inundated with rumor, innuendo and speculation about the case. Many believed those fabrications and half-truths to be fact. And an unsubstantiated-but-persistent story of how McGowen allegedly set up White as a murder victim because they had a relationship, or that she refused to have one, sealed his fate. McGowen was found guilty, Twice. He's already done his years in prison, but his case is worth examining for all the ways criminal courts can be manipulated by media, fast-talking lawyers and dubious witnesses.

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In the gray hues of Seattle, two men, Steven and Scott, are locked in a perilous journey beyond the law's reach. Entangled in a world of bank heists and fleeting loyalties, they chase redemption in a society relentless in pursuit. Amid adrenaline-fueled escapades and moral dilemmas, their kinship deepens, culminating in an unexpected bond. The tale traces their odyssey against the unforgiving backdrop of the law, culminating in the tragic end of Hollywood, a man who lived and died on his own terms, leaving a legacy entwined with the lives he touched.

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The brutal murder of Elizabeth Short—better known as the Black Dahlia—in 1947 has been in the public consciousness for nearly eighty years, yet no serious study of the crime has ever been published.

Short has been mischaracterized as a wayward sex worker or vagabond, and—like the seductive femme fatales of film noir—responsible for and perhaps deserving of her fate. William J. Mann, however, is interested in the truth. His extensive research reveals her as a young woman with curiosity and drive, who leveraged what little agency postwar society gave her to explore the world, defying draconian postwar gender expectations to settle down, marry, and have children. It’s time to reexamine the woman who became known as the Black Dahlia.

Using a 21st-century lens, Mann connects Short’s story to the anxious era after World War II, when the nation was grappling with new ideas, new demographics, new technologies, and old fears dressed up as new ones. Only by situating the Black Dahlia case within this changing world can we understand the tragedy of this young woman, whose life and death offer surprising mirrors on today.

Mann has strong opinions on who might’ve killed her, and even stronger ones on who did not. He spent five years sifting through the evidence and has found unknown connections by cross-referencing police reports, District Attorney investigations, FBI files, court documents, military records, and more, using the deep, intense research skills that have become his trademark. He also spoke with the families of the original detectives, of Short’s friends, and even of suspects, and relied on advice from experienced physicians and homicide detectives.

Mann deftly sifts through the sensationalized journalism, preconceived notions, myths, and misunderstandings surrounding the case to uncover the truth about Elizabeth Short like no book before. The Black Dahlia promises to be the definitive study about the most famous unsolved case in American history.

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