Why is What’s My Line? TV star and Pulitzer-Prize-nominated investigative reporter Dorothy Kilgallen one of the most feared journalists in history? Why has her threatened exposure of the truth about the JFK assassination triggered a cover-up by at least four government agencies and resulted in abuse of power at the highest levels?
Denial of Justice—written in the spirit of bestselling author Mark Shaw’s gripping true crime murder mystery, The Reporter Who Knew Too Much—tells the inside story of why Kilgallen was such a threat leading up to her unsolved murder in 1965. Shaw includes facts that have never before been published, including eyewitness accounts of the underbelly of Kilgallen’s private life, revealing statements by family members convinced she was murdered, and shocking new information about Jack Ruby’s part in the JFK assassination that only Kilgallen knew about, causing her to be marked for danger.
Peppered with additional evidence signaling the potential motives of Kilgallen’s arch enemies J. Edgar Hoover, mobster Carlos Marcello, Frank Sinatra, her husband Richard, and her last lover, Denial of Justice adds the final chapter to the story behind why the famous journalist was killed, with no investigation to follow despite a staged death scene. More information can be found at www.thedorothykilgallenstory.com.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
A former criminal defense attorney and legal analyst for USA Today, CNN and ESPN, Mark Shaw is the author of 25 books and counting. His most recent is "The Reporter Who Knew Too Much: The Mysterious Death of What's My Line TV Star and Media Icon Dorothy Kilgallen." Additional books include "The Poison Patriarch," Miscarriage of Justice," "Stations Along the Way," "Down for the Count," "Beneath the Mask of Holiness," "Larry Legend," "Bury Me In Pot Bunker," and "How to Become a Published Author: Idea to Publication."
Mr. Shaw has written for USA Today, Huffington Post, and the Aspen Daily News. He formally was a host or correspondent for ABC's Good Morning America, CBS's People, The World of People, Disney's The Scheme of Things and also hosted a three hour radio program in the Midwest. He is married to librarian Wen-ying Lu and lives in the San Francisco area.
More about Mr. Shaw may be learned at markshawbooks.com and on Wikipedia.
It is not scary like a horror story but scary that after almost 56 years ( JFK & Oswald) and 54 years for Ms Killgalen that people could still be scared to tell what they know. Marvin Beli was right, they went after Ruby next. Most everyone associated with this time in his are gone now. I am afraid to ask what can be so scary that after five decades you can't talk about it?
Extremely well researched and packed with startling new evidence, Mark Shaw makes a strong case that Dorothy Kilgallen was murdered in 1965. Many questions concerning the bogus Investigation by the New York District Attorneys Office is mysterious and unbelievable. Mark Shaw has been fighting for the justice that Kilgallen deserves but for so long has been denied to her. I had read and enjoyed “The Reporter Who Too Much” and was looking for to this book. I was not disappointed.
Very enthralling work by Mark Shaw, the result of some great research and analysis. I really I wish I could read from the information Dorothy Kilgallen had found out on the murders of John F. Kennedy and Lee Harvey Oswald. I sure hope one day we can get to the bottom of this, and we will have Shaw to thank for keeping this story going.
The book needs serious editing. It has about 100 pages of relevant substance, but it is repeated over and over, and scattered randomly through 450 disjointed pages with typos and misspellings and effusive praise for Kilgallen unrelated to the story. It takes too much effort to try to follow. His "story" wanders far off into areas that have nothing to do with the thesis--essentially a gossipy biography of Dorothy Kilgallen's celebrity life that does not relate to her Kennedy death investigation or her own death, to a point where you nearly forget what the book is about--until he goes back and repeats the same arguments for the umpteenth time. Shaw grasps every possible third-hand decades-old act or comment out of its context and strings them together as if they relate to each other, and repeats and repeats them, as if his thesis becomes believable through repetition. (Are you getting the concept through repetition in this comment?) He makes a couple of interesting points and raises questions, but I end up having to side with Cyrus Vance Jr.
I have no doubt that Dorothy Kilgallen was a talented, driven journalist, whose death can indeed be seen as suspicious. However, the way “this author” writes about potential “suspects” and those who didn’t want to cooperate with his investigation (including Kilgallen’s daughter) really rubbed me the wrong way. It came across as petty, obsessed, and bitter. “This author” has many wild, detailed theories regarding who caused her death, but it was tiring to read lines like “common sense dictates” and “she must have been thinking”. The word “must” was used in an assumptive sense so frequently that it was hard not to roll my eyes.
While the case of Dorothy Kilgallen is intriguing, I find the conjecture and resentful tone of this book distracting. Such a shame. Rest in peace, Dorothy.
As the title states, Dorothy Kilgallen received, and continues to receive, a denial of justice.
I read The Reporter Who Knew Too Much a while back and haven’t stopped talking about it since. Reading Denial of Justice, it’s added fuel to the fire. I will probably end up repeating sentiments in my Reporter Who Knew Too Much review, but the fact Dorothy Kilgallen is practically unknown today is sickening. And when someone does know her name, it’s most likely from a What’s My Line? rerun.
A groundbreaking reporter, a brilliant mind as seen on tv and as seen through her writing, a woman who worked her way to the top in male dominated industries without losing her elegance has been almost forgotten... in only 54 years? That in itself is cause for suspicion. This woman was the most famous columnist in America and known internationally. Take a browse through internet archives and you’ll see for yourself. How has history so quickly forgotten her while hundreds of other people with minor achievements are still household names? And in the age of feminism, no less! This alone is an injustice, never mind the fact her case is being all but ignored by those in power.
Thankfully, there are people like Mark Shaw who will not settle for the ‘accidental overdose’ theory. The extent of his research is true homage to Dorothy. Just as she went above and beyond in her JFK investigation, Mark Shaw is going above and beyond to uncover the truth surrounding Dorothy’s death. In this book, he has proposed a handful of scenarios as to what might have happened November 8th, 1965, and with everything uncovered in this book, he’s likely solved this ‘forgotten’ crime step by step.
Thank you, Mr. Shaw, for your integrity and persistence. As a reader and a great admirer of Ms. Kilgallen, I continue to spread the word about the case as well as direct people to your books. Uncovering who murdered Dorothy Kilgallen is one of the keys to solving the mystery of JFK’s assassination point blank.
“Justice is a big rug. When you pull it out from under one man, a lot of others fall too.” - Dorothy Kilgallen
I started watching What's My Line on Youtube back in 2017 during my lunch break. I really liked the show and told hubby all about it. I have a wonderful hubby - when I tell him about something I really enjoy - he digs in to see if there are more of related things to be had. In his digging, he found this book and bought it for me. At the time I had no idea of Dorothy's history, but enjoyed her on the show.
Thank you Mark Shaw for your efforts in this book. I pray that by God's hand, may all be revealed in the fullness of time.
“And the Lord said, 'What have you done? Listen; your brother's blood is crying out to me from the ground'” (Gen. 4:10)
I unfortunately can’t regard this book as compelling JFK assassination research. Although I am convinced that acclaimed reporter, Dorothy Kilgallen, was murdered and that it was directly related to her investigation of JFK’s death, Mark Shaw’s evidence for the specifics of the case amount mostly to hearsay and speculation. He used a sensational writing style that, in my opinion, undermined the professionalism of his research. The strenuous connections seemed to create the NARRATIVE of a sinister plot to end Miss Kilgallen’s life, but not the unbiased reality that there is not enough evidence to settle this case for good. “Denial of Justice” has some merits, and Mark Shaw is wothout a doubt the leading world expert on Dorothy Kilgallen. But his biased rhetoric and sensational exposé writing ultimately left me disappointed.
This is a very long and complex book, thus it requires an index. Sadly it doesn’t have one. There also glaring mistakes (or typographical errors) that are easily checked. “What’s My Line? aired at 10:30pm EST not 10:00pm as stated in the book. It is also noted that a question was asked on WML? in 1945 when in fact the program debuted on February 02, 1950. These factors are why I deducted one star.
That aside, I applaud the author for uncovering all that he did as sadly, Dorothy Kilgallen seems to be forgotten today. She was a top notch reporter who never gave up until she had the truth. We need that today. Had she lived longer I’m sure she would’ve covered the Richard Speck trial and the Charles Manson trial and that would’ve been some very interesting reading. The chapters that cover the transcripts from the Jack Ruby trial are a real eye opener.
I agree with the author in that Ron Pataky is the most likely suspect in the death of Dorothy Kilgallen and I really believe that she had the key to the JFK assassination. Sadly all of the notes that she compiled have never been found after they disappeared upon her death. I’m also convinced that she was murdered because of what she knew.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Contains much conjecture and imagining what Dorothy Kilgallen was thinking. Goes through the range of those who could have ordered the assassination of President Kennedy, and then the list of those who may have been responsible for Dorothy's murder. All very interesting, and like a good crime story, reasonable sounding, but rather repetitive. I remember my mother listened to Dorothy and Dick radio show, and I recall seeing her on What's My Line, and ever the interested history seeker, was drawn to this book. However, if the author really has information that Dorothy left behind about the true story behind Kennedy's assassination, it was not shared. We keep reading how crucial that information was, probably, as the motivation for Dorothy's murder. On the last page of the book is a photo with the author sitting by the stack of transcripts from Ruby's trial that were hidden all these years. No doubt, after having read this book, I too became interested in the controversy surrounding Kilgallen's death, and the information she may have had that would challenge the Warren Commission report.
I really liked this book except for 2 minor things that kept popping up in the reading that drove me crazy. So I would have given this book a 4.5 stars if I could do halves. Take into account that most of you will probably think these are trivial but they weren't to me. During the writing, Mark kept stating "this author", "this author", "this author" and then "obtained through the freedom of information act". OK, I get it. I would have rather an asterisk would be placed to let us know that it was obtained through the freedom of information act if we so needed to know that.
Anyway, the information in the book was extremely interesting. I had already read "The Reporter Who Knew Too Much" and enjoyed it also. This book went into more detail and you could tell that Mark Shaw had done a lot of research. I was too young to remember Dorothy Kilgallen from the 60's but I don't know if people really thought she was an alcoholic and drug abuser as implied. I commend Mark Shaw for wanting to clear her reputation but am more interested in what she found out and basically what she was killed for. With all the cover up regarding JFK's assassination, it is no wonder that her death was just as swept under the rug. I think she was on the verge of blowing everything up and silenced. One thing I don't understand is that for such an intelligent woman, why did she tell so many people that she was about to tell all and why didn't she make a copy of the information and leave it with her hairdresser or butler.
Publisher's Description: Why is What's My Line? TV star and Pulitzer-Prize-nominated investigative reporter Dorothy Kilgallen one of the most feared journalists in history? Why has her threatened exposure of the truth about the JFK assassination triggered a cover-up by at least four government agencies and resulted in abuse of power at the highest levels?
Denial of Justice--written in the spirit of bestselling author Mark Shaw's gripping true crime murder mystery, The Reporter Who Knew Too Much--tells the inside story of why Kilgallen was such a threat leading up to her unsolved murder in 1965. Shaw includes facts that have never before been published, including eyewitness accounts of the underbelly of Kilgallen's private life, revealing statements by family members convinced she was murdered, and shocking new information about Jack Ruby's part in the JFK assassination that only Kilgallen knew about, causing her to be marked for danger.
Peppered with additional evidence signaling the potential motives of Kilgallen's arch enemies J. Edgar Hoover, mobster Carlos Marcello, Frank Sinatra, her husband Richard, and her last lover, Denial of Justice adds the final chapter to the story behind why the famous journalist was killed, with no investigation to follow despite a staged death scene. More information can be found at www.thedorothykilgallenstory.com.
I did enjoy this book, the author is thorough and book is well-written. I am not going to take the time to fact check him, but I am impressed at his efforts to corroborate and organize the body of work. The book is persuasive, and left me wishing for someone in authority had pushed for an open review of what happened. This is, after all, focused on one of America's biggest crimes. It would have been a 5-star rating, but the final chapter or two seems to work too hard to reiterate his points. It was the tedious part of the story. Still, if one was alive at that time, it is a fascinating read and took me back to that time and era.
The author has presented many credible theories about the connections between the JFK assassination and the death of Dorothy Kilgallen. There were, unfortunately too many public and criminal entities who wanted JFK dead. This serves only muddy the waters. The real reasons why he was killed and why other people who were directly or indirectly connected died will probably never be known. Most people will be content with the conspiracy theorists weaving more loopy ideas about JFK's death.
I’ll be totally honest I couldn’t finish this book & I really tried. Basically it was just going over the same information that was in the 1st book, “The Reporter That Knew Too Much” By the middle of the book it felt more like when one listens to a scratched record & the record keeps playing the same line from the song over & over again. The 1st book said pretty much all that needed to be told with very FEW exceptions added in this book. My advice is to just read the 1st book because you won’t be missing much by bypassing this one.
Excellent follow up to The Reporter Who Knew Too Much. While Shaw does use some of the material from The Reporter Who Knew Too Much it is necessary and woven into this follow up book. I got the sense Shaw knows what happened, how she was killed and who did it but is waiting to confirm it with facts, not supposition. I'm looking forward to the third book in this series, Collateral Damage, due out in a few weeks.
I watched Mark Shaw on YouTube giving a Q and A discussion of this book and found it very interesting. That Shaw is a true advocate for Dorothy there is no doubt. His speculations about what Dorothy might have uncovered in reference to the JFK assassination and her coverage and interview with Jack Ruby is very interesting and makes a great deal of sense to me. A good read for anyone interested in true crime and JFK's death.
such a major disappointment, severe lack of editing to prevent the endless repitition of allegations, praise for the subject who appears to the author to have been the best of everything and every defect forgiven. I failed to see the unchallenged assertions as facts, despite their repeated assertions in the text. several allegations as to the responsible persons are made and then ignored. Nothing about uncovered evidence regarding the JFK assassination is provided. Truly a waste of my time.
A true and heartfelt book about the courageous woman journalist named Dorothy Kilgallen. We may never know the truth surrounding her murder. All those involved in the assignations and the murder of Dorothy will be judged by God Almighty.
Mr. Shaw, I have the upmost respect for you for your dedication and determination to restoring Dorothy’s reputation by uncovering the truth!
Again, so many mentions of Kilgallen's breasts and the "this author" POV is just weird and obsessive. I love What's My Line?, Kennedy, and conspiracies and I just can't get behind these books. Womp womp
The author states there is new material in this book, and there is, but not alot and it's mostly a repeat of his first book "The Reporter who knew too much" I had just finished that first book so it took too much work to find the new material, so I gave up.
I'll have to put this into the DNF pile. It pretty much is just a rehashing of Shaw's The Reporter Who Knew Too Much. There was not really any new information added in this book that was not already in the previously written one. Recommended only if you've not read the first book.
Solid 3.5 👍 Very thorough book on an incredible topic, although the way the information is presented/organized in each chapter could have been improved. I definitely look forward to reading his other books.
Well researched and well written. Highly informative. However, it was too long. Too much detail in the subplots. The story could have been told in far fewer pages.