The Hollywood way of life has long been a mix of scandal, secrecy and sensation - and so has the Hollywood way of death.
This book charts the lives, loves and deaths of 30 of Tinseltown's leading stars. Many of the deaths were sad or senseless, and some were tragic. Others were the revenge of old age, while a few were the revenge of something altogether more sinister.
The untimely, sensational deaths of Marilyn Monroe and James Dean are examined. So too is the demise of Jean Harlow, whose Christian-scientist mother banned medical help to the end. Arthur Farnsworth, husband of Bette Davis, is included as a mysterious - not to say suspicious - death, as is the possible murder of "Superman" George Reeves.
Among the others featured are Merle Oberon, Sammy Davis Jr, Mary Pickford, John Wayne, Humphrey Bogart, Gary Cooper and Groucho Marx.