OUTLAW LOS ANGELES is now available from WildBlue Press! Order your copy today!
A sunset cruise through a place where ordinary inhumanities are entertainment…
Los Angeles is where America’s dreams and nightmares got all tangled up. In this otherworldly place of seemingly everlasting life, death could have an otherworldly quality, too. In a city where anything was possible, even the ghastly could happen. Where else does a list of a city’s top five most recognized citizens include a mass murderer? Stand in the footsteps of Manson, the Hillside Strangler, the Night Stalker, the Black Dahlia’s killer, and the Onion Field slayers. Visit crime scenes where Hollywood’s weird history took fatal turns for O.J. Simpson, John Belushi, Ramon Novarro, Phil Hartman, Dorothy Stratten, Sal Mineo, and so many others.
OUTLAW LOS ANGELES continues the series that critics, true-crime fans, historians, and travelers have hailed as “ thorough and unflinching” and “the best damn crime travel series ever published!” Dozens of fascinating stories in OUTLAW LOS ANGELES are told in the same fast-paced, enthralling voice that’s made Ron Franscell one of America’s most beloved crime writers… and the Crime Buff’s Guides a three-time winner of TrueCrimeZine.com’s Book of the Year!
From The Author:
California is the ultimate paradox.
Author Ron Franscell
Depending upon the day, or the dream, or the slant of the light, it is a rejuvenating mindscape, a fresh start, a new chapter, or hell on earth. Almost from its start, this place offered rebirth, escape, a chance to be the person you thought you should be, not the person you’d become. It was Eden at the deep end of the continent, a paradise of warm air, gentle breezes, and a languid ocean—or the last chance.
Everybody came. Some brought their dreams. And some brought nightmares.
You can stand in the footsteps of Manson, the Hillside Strangler, the Night Stalker, the Black Dahlia’s killer, and the Onion Field slayers. You can see the crime scenes where Hollywood’s weird history took fatal turns for O.J. Simpson, John Belushi, Ramon Novarro, Phil Hartman, Dorothy Stratten, Sal Mineo, and so many others. You can wander among the graves of victims, criminals, and great lawmen (and -women). It will point the way to the precise location of some of America’s deadliest made-for-TV crimes, like the 1974 SLA shootout and the Christopher Dorner manhunt. And you’ll read about cases you never knew existed but that sent out grim, ghostly ripples that have washed across decades.
I’m an old-school newspaperman. I believe there’s something important to be learned from “being there.” So I explored Los Angeles’s crime history close-up to find some of its hidden history, sometimes so well hidden that we often dash through life blissfully unaware that some of the most startling crimes in America happened right in our own backyards—sometimes literally.
Charles Manson, LA Times
Crime is part of history, part of who we are. So the history of crime is important to understanding our culture. And just like other historic sites where imagination, myth and history entangle, significant outlaw-related sites can also offer a glimpse beneath the surface of the present. As every traveler knows, visiting important—and sometimes forgotten—places can enlarge our understanding of history infinitely.
Praise For OUTLAW LOS ANGELES:
“Meticulously researched guide book into the baddest of the bad in LaLa Land. Franscell confirms what history has always known: Los Angeles is the ‘Queen of Angels’ and the ‘King of Devils.’ Highly recommended!” — STEVE HODEL, NYTimes bestselling author of “Black Dahlia Avenger” and former LAPD homicide detective
“The research is simply amazing! He’s uncovered riveting stories about outlaws that very few of us even knew about… An indispensable guide.” — SKIP HOLLANDSWORTH, NYTimes bestselling author of “Midnight Assassin”
“OUTLAW LOS ANGELES is one of those books you can’t put down. Every page seems more interesting than the last, and when the reader finishes reading it, he wants to contact the author and ask for OUTLAW LOS ANGELES II.” —Robert A. Waters, Kidnapping, Murder & Mayhem
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