Hot Toddy: The True Story of Hollywood's Most Sensational Murder

Thelma Todd, a Massachusetts beauty who became one of Hollywood's most successful comediennes in the late '20s and early '30s, died mysteriously in 1935 at the height of her popularity. She worked with stars like the Marx Brothers, Laurel and Hardy and Gary Cooper. In addition to her film career, she was also involved in the restaurant business, where her path crossed that of Lucky Luciano, the New York mobster who was trying to gain a foothold on the West Coast. According to the reconstruction of Todd's death by Edmonds ( Talkin' Tough ), the actress did not commit suicide, as a grand jury concluded, but was murdered by a Luciano hit man. The conjecture seems defensible, but the reliance on and reproduction of private conversations throughout inadvisably imparts the character of fiction to the book. Photos not seen by PW. Literary Guild alternate. (May)