By Siddhi Jain
New Delhi– Iconic American crime author Michael Connelly is all set to narrate his podcast ‘The Wonderland Murders and The Secret History of Hollywood’, a well-documented murder mystery that take you closer to the murder scene in the city of Los Angeles, that released this month, timed to mark the 40th anniversary of the Wonderland Murders.
In the new non-fiction limited podcast series on Audible, best-selling author Connelly returns to his roots in journalism and examines the well-known and brutal Wonderland Murders in the City of Angels. The podcast is named after the street in Laurel Canyon where the murders took place. For the first time, it accesses never-revealed records and exclusive interviews with investigators, prosecutors and a notorious “missing” witness who puts all the pieces together.
The stories disrupt a mythology and tell a broader story of Los Angeles, the American dream machine, and when justice does — and doesn’t — work. And for the first time, a notorious, “missing” witness unlocks it all and puts the pieces together, says Audible.
The documentary podcast series is created and written by best-selling author Connelly. It is executive produced by Connelly, LAPD homicide veteran Rick Jackson, Jen Casey and Nick Gilhool.
The podcast follows the nine lives of a man known best as Liberace’s lover and confidant, played by Matt Damon in the movie Behind the Candelabra, revealing himself here to be the “Zelig of Awful” and a tour guide into Hollywood’s dark underbelly. He is either the ultimate conman or the ultimate witness to the secret history of Hollywood.
Though it happened in 1981, the aftermath of the Wonderland Murders spans decades with characters, details, subplots, and investigative twists that prove the truth-is-stranger-than-fiction adage. This includes Hollywood underworld’s most violent drug kingpin; three murder trials with zero convictions; a bribed juror and accusations of a corrupt federal agent; the birth of the crack cocaine epidemic; the investigators being investigated themselves, the Black Guerilla Family; the biggest porn actor of his generation, John Holmes, not to mention wild claims about the drug use of many major celebrities; a Boston mafia Don; and finally, the story of a quick-buck televangelist who was supposed to be in witness protection when he ended up on the floor of a Florida motel shot in the face and left for dead.
“It is exciting to be releasing this podcast on Audible, a company I’ve had a long and fruitful association with,” Connelly says while adding: “The podcast will take the listener behind the scenes of this infamous case and look at it from angles never seen before. If you think you know this story already, you are wrong.” (IANS)
