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USA TODAY BESTSELLER

"A wild ride beneath the glitz and glamour of 1950s Hollywood, proving once again that Casey Sherman is a master of the genre."

—Ben Mezrich, New York Times bestselling author of Dumb Money, Bringing Down the House, and The Accidental Billionaires

The dark story behind the bright lights of Tinseltown

From the outside, Hollywood starlet Lana Turner seemed to have it all—a thriving film career, a beautiful daughter, and the kind of fame and fortune that most people could only dream of. But when the famous femme fatale began dating mobster Johnny Stompanato, thug for the infamous west coast mob boss Mickey Cohen, her personal life became violent and unpredictable. Lana's teenage daughter, Cheryl, watched her beloved mother's life deteriorate as Stompanato's intense jealousy took over. Eventually, the physical and emotional abuse became too much to bear, and Lana attempted to break it off with Johnny—with disastrous consequences. The details of what happened that fateful night remain foggy, but it ended in a series of frantic phone calls and Stompanato dead on Lana's bedroom floor, with Cheryl claiming to have plunged a knife into his abdomen in an attempt to protect her mother. The subsequent murder trial made for the biggest headlines of the year, its drama eclipsing every Hollywood movie.

New York Times bestselling author Casey Sherman pulls back Tinseltown's velvet curtain to reveal the dark underbelly of celebrity, rife with toxic masculinity and casual violence against women, and tells the story of Lana Turner and her daughter, who finally stood up to the abuse that plagued their family for years. A Murder in Hollywood transports us back to the golden age of film and illuminates one of the 20th century's most notorious true crime tales.

About the Author

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Casey Sherman is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today & Boston Globe Bestselling Author of 17 books including “The Finest Hours” (now a major Walt Disney Studio motion picture starring Chris Pine & Casey Affleck), and “Patriots Day” (now an acclaimed motion picture from CBS Films starring Mark Wahlberg and Kevin Bacon). Sherman’s 2023 true crime bestseller “Helltown,” is now in development as a limited television series for Amazon Studio. Sherman will serve as Executive Producer on the project, which is slated to star Oscar Isaac (“Dune”), with director Edward Berger (Netflix – “All is Quiet on the Western Front”), and produced by Team Downey (Robert Downey, Jr. & Susan Downey - HBO’s “Perry Mason”). Sherman’s other books include James Patterson’s “The Last Days of John Lennon,” which spent more than 23 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, “12: The Inside Story of Tom Brady’s Fight for Redemption,” and “Hunting Whitey: The Inside Story of The Capture & Killing of America’s Most Wanted Crime Boss. Sherman has appeared on more than 100 television and radio programs and is a contributing writer for TIME Magazine, Esquire, The Washington Post, The Daily Beast, Boston Magazine and the Boston Herald.

Praise For…

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"A well-researched and new take on one of Hollywood’s most notorious mysteries. True-crime fans and celebrity mavens will enjoy." — Library Journal

"A well-researched and new take on one of Hollywood’s most notorious mysteries. True-crime fans and celebrity mavens will enjoy." — Library Journal

"In his stunning new book, A Murder in Hollywood, Casey Sherman takes us behind the glitz and glamour of 1950s Technicolor to a front row seat at a real-life film noir, the story of Lana Turner and her terrifying love affair with LA gangster Johnny Stompanato. It's a violent and harrowing tale of female empowerment, a page turner more gripping than any film in which she ever starred." — Terence Winter, Executive Producer of The Sopranos, creator of Boardwalk Empire

"A wild ride beneath the glitz and glamour of 1950’s Hollywood, proving once again that Casey Sherman is a master of the genre. Riveting, eye-opening, and impeccably researched, A Murder in Hollywood is a cinematic tour-de-force that pulls back the curtain on one of Tinseltown's darkest moments, reinventing our understanding of Lana Turner as an enduring icon of feminine power. Casey Sherman's research is revelatory—a game-changer that shifts the spotlight from scandal to the strength and resilience of a woman fighting for her life and her legacy." — Ben Mezrich, New York Times bestselling author of Dumb Money, Bringing Down the House, and The Accidental Billionaires

"If you like a lively Hollywood yarn or crave a good gangster tale—or both—A Murder in Hollywood is the book for you. Casey Sherman turns his sharp eye to the famed Lana Turner murder case, and he delivers the liveliest, grittiest, juiciest page-turner of the year, a true story that reads like Harold Robbins on steroids. Lovely Lana, the bottle-blonde heartthrob, gets top billing. Surrounding her is a fantastic cast of featured players, hoods like Bugsy Siegel, Mickey Cohen and Johnny Stompanato, Hollywood giants like Clark Gable, Joan Crawford, and even Sean Connery. It's the kind of book that's just plain fun to read, but when you're done, you'll wonder at the toxic effects of ambition, greed, and unfulfilled dreams of love... even in the land where dreams are supposed to come true." — William Martin, New York Times bestselling author of Back Bay and December ’41 

"A must-read for fans of true crime and Hollywood history, A Murder in Hollywood never disappoints! Casey Sherman deftly serves just the right mix of glamour, glitz, and grit to keep the reader turning pages. It’s a stunner from start to finish." — Kristin Dilley, co-host, Mind over Murder podcast