The Black Dahlia: The Life and Murder of Elizabeth Short
Murder Sheet
MurderSheet
3.8 • 3K Ratings
🗓️ 27 January 2026
⏱️ 56 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
William J. Mann has written Black Dahlia: Murder, Monsters and Madness in Midcentury Hollywood, a terrific new book on the Black Dahlia case and he joins us to discuss the murder- and his victim centric approach.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I'm Kevin, and we're going to talk today with the author of a book, which takes a victim-centric approach to the murder of Elizabeth Short, who's also known as the Black Dahlia. |
| 0:11.5 | Content warning, this episode contains discussion of murder, sexual abuse, rape, and torture. |
| 0:17.5 | Some cases you hear about once and never forget. The murder of Elizabeth's short falls into that |
| 0:25.5 | category for us. Elizabeth, who became known as the Black Dahlia after she died, was found dead in a |
| 0:33.7 | vacant lot in Los Angeles on the morning of January 15, 1947. |
| 0:39.3 | Her body had been severed, and so was in two pieces. |
| 0:43.0 | Despite decades of theories and speculations, to this date, |
| 0:46.9 | no one knows for sure who killed her or why. |
| 0:50.4 | Now, William J. Mant has written a new book on the case. |
| 0:59.4 | Black Dahlia. Murder, Monst, and madness in mid-century Hollywood. |
| 1:09.6 | His work busts many of the myths that have grown up around the case and puts the focus of the story squarely back on Elizabeth and her life. |
| 1:12.9 | William has written extensively about crime in Hollywood. |
| 1:19.2 | His earlier work, Tinsletown, focused on the murder of film director William Desmond Taylor. |
| 1:25.0 | He also wrote Boghian Bacall, which focused on the relationship between the two stars, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. |
| 1:33.4 | Considering his pedigree, we were quite interested to hear what he had to say about the murder of Elizabeth Short. |
| 1:36.2 | My name is Anya Kane. I'm a journalist. |
| 1:38.6 | And I'm Kevin Greenlee. I'm an attorney. |
| 1:40.5 | And this is The Murder Sheet. |
| 1:47.0 | We're a true crime podcast focused on original reporting, interviews, and deep dives into murder cases. |
| 1:55.0 | We're the murder sheet. And this is the Black Dahlia, the life and murder of Elizabeth Short. Music The |
| 2:03.6 | The Can you tell us a little bit about your background, sir? |
| 2:33.3 | Can you tell us a little bit about your background, sir? |
... |
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