Tinseltown; Finding Jake

Another book claiming to have solved the nearly century old murder of actor and director William Desmond Taylor, "Tinseltown" by William J. Mann was very vividly written and read more like fiction than nonfiction. Mann didn't delve into Taylor's messy private life, his many secrets, instead focusing on three women whose lives circled around his: Mary Miles Minter, the young girl who fancied herself in love with him and thought that if it weren't for her meddling, overprotective mother they'd be married; Mabel Normand, Taylor's good friend and the last person (other than the murderer) who saw Taylor alive; and Margaret Gibson, known as "Gibby", a failing actress who would do anything for fame. Gibby was hooked up with some shady characters in the early 1920s, con men who were caught blackmailing rich, prominent people. Mann believes Gibby knew some of Taylor's secrets and she and her cohorts were blackmailing him. Something went wrong the night he was murdered, and Gibby spent her whole life hanging onto that secret, until she confessed on her deathbed. No one took her seriously, at the time she was a recluse, destitute. It's as good a theory as any other I've heard. It's a shame we'll probably never know the truth.

"Finding Jake" by Bryan Reardon was pretty heartbreaking, I cried at the end. There's been a shooting at Jake's school, and his parents, Simon and Rachel, are frantic with worry. All the kids are eventually accounted for except for Jake. Immediately the police and media jump to the conclusion that Jake was in on the killings, the second shooter, since he was friendly with the first shooter, Doug. Simon and Rachel are frustrated the police aren't doing more to find Jake, treating him like a suspect, when they known damn well he was a good kid who would never do such a thing, although Simon feels guilty for having his nagging doubts. Their neighbors and former friends are calling them horrible things, accusing them of raising a monster. Simon finally finds Jake's body, since the police have completely dropped the ball, and it turns out Jake was actually a hero. He went to Doug's house the morning of the shooting, knowing he was going to do something, trying to talk him out of it. Doug shot him in the back, and in his last painful moments of life Jake grabbed Doug's box of ammunition and ran outside, scattering the bullets, hoping Doug wouldn't be able to hurt anyone. Doug gunned him down for good, left his body at their old childhood fort, and went to school with Jake's blood on his hands, killing thirteen of his classmates before taking his own life. Simon is of course incensed that the same people who called his boy a killer are now trying to pretend like they're sorry and calls some of them out on it, much to his wife's horror. I was with Simon on that, he was actually much nicer than I would have been. At any rate, it was a great reminder of how, as a society, we're quick to pounce on the salacious details without waiting to see what the truth might actually be.