Anthony Award-nominated and National Indie Excellence Award Winner James T. Bartlett will discuss his true crime book, The Alaskan Blonde: Sex, Secrets and the Hollywood Story That Shocked America. Known as "the most beautiful woman in Alaska," Diane Wells was bruised and bloodied when she screamed for help in the early hours of October 17, 1953. Her wealthy husband Cecil had been shot dead, and she claimed they were victims of a brutal home invasion. Police were suspicious, and began to search for her alleged lover, black musician Johnny Warren. A sex scandal in far-off Alaska shocked the readers of Newsweek and Life, and this book reexamines the flawed investigation and learns of new evidence about "the most notorious and baffling murder in the history of Fairbanks." James T. Bartlett has written for the Los Angeles Times, BBC, Crime Reads, Frommers, SFGate, Hemispheres, The Guardian and Variety among others, and he is also the author of the three Gourmet Ghosts alternative guides to the history, architecture, crimes and ghost stories of Los Angeles.

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Presented in partnership with Tewksbury Public Library.

RECORDING NOTE: This program will NOT be recorded.