Books & Coffee: Hollywood's Oldest Unsolved Murder Mystery

October is the perfect month to curl up on a cozy couch with a warm cup of coffee and a mystery book. This month, I am traveling back in time to the Silent Age of Hollywood with A Cast of Killers.  The book is a true crime mystery about the unsolved 1922 murder of William Desmond Taylor, a famous Hollywood film director.  

The murder became a national scandal and it ended the careers of two prominent silent-film actresses whose association with the director made them prime suspects. In 1967, King Vidor, who began his career in Hollywood as a silent-film actor and then became a successful film director, set out to solve the murder mystery. He began a years-long pursuit of research and interviews, but when he thought he had finally identified the killer, he chose to keep his research a secret for fear that the revelation may destroy the lives of people connected to the case who were still alive.  

William Desmond Taylor 
Photograph from the Los Angeles Public Library

After King Vidor's death in 1982,  his notes were discovered by his biographer, Sidney Kirkpatrick, which resulted in the publication of A Cast of Killers.  The book is based on King Vidor's notes on the cover-up by the Los Angeles Police Department and Paramount Studios and the possible suspects and their motives.  

Some claim that the true killer remains elusive. Despite the numerous theories, suspects, and even deathbed confessions, no one was ever prosecuted and the case remains one of Hollywood's most enduring mysteries and unsolved cold cases. 

The Cast of Killers is an excellent and intriguing book filled with King Vidor's compelling findings and interviews that will give readers a glimpse into a forgotten Hollywood and the lives of silent film stars from a bygone era.