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True Crime Burbank
Burbank is known as a haven from the craziness of nearby Hollywood, but the city has a dark underbelly.
Nellie May Madison shot her husband to death at their home in 1934 and became the first woman to be condemned to death in California. The brutal 1953 murder of Mable Monohan inspired an Oscar-winning movie, but that didn’t save Barbara Graham and her killer collaborators from the gallows. In the decades that followed, infamous and violent offenders such as the “Dating Game Killer,” the “Toolbox Killers,” and “Night Stalker” Richard Ramirez hunted for victims in the area, while slayings of detectives, private eyes, bookies, and secret gamblers piled up in the cold case files of the police department.
Award-winning author and journalist James T. Bartlett explores the sinister side of Burbank history.
Nellie May Madison shot her husband to death at their home in 1934 and became the first woman to be condemned to death in California. The brutal 1953 murder of Mable Monohan inspired an Oscar-winning movie, but that didn’t save Barbara Graham and her killer collaborators from the gallows. In the decades that followed, infamous and violent offenders such as the “Dating Game Killer,” the “Toolbox Killers,” and “Night Stalker” Richard Ramirez hunted for victims in the area, while slayings of detectives, private eyes, bookies, and secret gamblers piled up in the cold case files of the police department.
Award-winning author and journalist James T. Bartlett explores the sinister side of Burbank history.
160 pages, Paperback
Published August 18, 2026
About the author
James T. Bartlett
5 books7 followersOriginally from England, James T. Bartlett’s latest true crime book, "The Alaskan Blonde: Sex, Secrets, and the Hollywood Story that Shocked America", examines a sensational 1953 murder, sex and race scandal that began in Fairbanks, ended with a suicide in Hollywood, and hit the pages of Life, Newsweek, Jet, and the pulp detective magazines.
He also wrote the Gourmet Ghosts alternative guides to crime, ghosts, and the history behind Los Angeles bars, restaurants and hotels, and as a travel and lifestyle journalist he has written for over 130 publications including the LA Times, BBC, Westways, Hemispheres, High Life, ALTA California, Atlas Obscura, Real Crime, American Way, Ripperologist, and others.
He also wrote the Gourmet Ghosts alternative guides to crime, ghosts, and the history behind Los Angeles bars, restaurants and hotels, and as a travel and lifestyle journalist he has written for over 130 publications including the LA Times, BBC, Westways, Hemispheres, High Life, ALTA California, Atlas Obscura, Real Crime, American Way, Ripperologist, and others.
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