Erin ’s Reviews > Black Dahlia: Murder, Monsters, and Madness in Midcentury Hollywood > Status Update

All young, murdered women were beautiful in the tabloids.

Since the body of Elizabeth Short was found, the detectives investigating her murder had shared most everything with the press and consequently with the public.

Clearly her killer knew exactly what to do to cut her in half.

All one needs to practice psychiatry is a degree in medicine.

The United Press's popularization of her "sheer clothing" would pave the way for endless depictions of Elizabeth as a seductress that would become the template for noir heroines from then on.

The murder of Mary Tate did not make headlines. It barely made the newspapers at all. Another reason Elizabeth Short's murder made headlines was that she was "a looker and white" "a reporters dream girl". If she had been "Filipina or a nigger forget it. Wouldn't make the papers."

Elizabeth had not been forced to eat feces before her death. The fecal matter in her stomach was a natural result of her small intestine being severed.

The crime scene was not compromised. Only detectives not even patrolmen were permitted on the grass beside the body. And detectives kept their hands in their pockets.

Her teeth were in a state of advanced decay. The 2 upper central incisors were loose and one lower incisor was loose. The rest of her teeth showed cavities.

When Elizabeth showed up at Glynn Wolfe's apartment, Glynn was separated from his 11th wife and looking for a 12th.