Joe Pompeo

Always love a Nieman newsletter plug…

William J. Mann on BLACK DAHLIA "I wanted to find Elizabeth Short more than finding her killer."

Shot the shit with William J. Mann about the research behind BLACK DAHLIA: Murder, Monsters, and Madness in Midcentury Hollywood, out this week from Simon & Schuster:

joepompeo.substack.com/p/william-j-...

New Black Dahlia intrigue, a legendary billion-dollar shipwreck, the Einstein murders, and more Five new books to check out in January

The Black Dahlia is back:

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Impressed by your astute reading-between-the-lines!

"The piece rushes breathlessly through both the particulars of the Stranglers’ eventual capture and a who’s-who of the west-coast punk world, and the overall effect is a book-proposal vibe. Not that I wouldn’t like to read said book!" @sarahdbunting.bsky.social Said book coming your way fall 2027😂

James Patterson Is Pretty Sure Marilyn Monroe Was Murdered The acclaimed author, whose 250 books sold half a billion copies, author casts an eye on the actress’s still-mysterious death.

In this week’s issue of The Hollywood Reporter, I talk to James Patterson about his forthcoming Marilyn Monroe “true crime thriller” and his expansion into juicy/tabloidy nonfiction. Read it over at @thr.com:

www.hollywoodreporter.com/lifestyle/ar...

Brad Ricca on LINCOLN'S GHOST "This is a book about ghosts. A lot of it’s goofy, but some of it’s scary."

Shot the shit with @bradricca.bsky.social about his new book (hot off the presses), LINCOLN’S GHOST: Houdini’s War on Spiritualism and the Dark Conspiracy Against the American Presidency:

joepompeo.substack.com/p/brad-ricca...

My latest for TOWN & COUNTRY:

www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/arts...

New true crime anthology from Penzler Publishers/Crime Ink featuring a Vanity Fair story of mine plus other great reads from Harper’s, Esquire, Texas Monthly, Slate, The Atavist, and more.

Preorder here: penzlerpublishers.com/product/the-...

Laurie Gwen Shapiro on THE AVIATOR AND THE SHOWMAN "You can’t work with the estate if you want the real story."

Chatted with my pal @lauriestories.bsky.social about the wild research breakthroughs behind her dishy and revelatory new Amelia Earhart book, THE AVIATOR AND THE SHOWMAN:

joepompeo.substack.com/p/laurie-gwe...

Gilded Age power women, Holocaust survival, and the Brits behind the bomb Four new books to check out in September

Gilded Age power women, Holocaust survival, and the Brits behind the bomb — four new books to check out in September:

The Historic Harvard Murder Mystery That Still Keeps College Students Up at Night Scandals at Harvard University always receive outsized attention, especially when a well-liked professor is accused of murder.

My latest for TOWN & COUNTRY, for their higher education digital issue, with cameos from @paulcollins.bsky.social and @ellisw.bsky.social:

www.townandcountrymag.com/society/mone...

Bryan Burrough on THE GUNFIGHTERS "They all became famous for shooting people."

Chatted with Bryan Burrough about the research behind his new book on the Old West outlaws who “all became famous for shooting people.”

JFK's summer as a journalist "A reporter is reporting what happens; he's not making it happen."

My latest podcast script for iHeart's VERY SPECIAL EPISODES is about JFK's summer as a journalist for the Hearst newspapers at the sunset of WWII. You can listen to it and check out some fun extras over at my Substack:

joepompeo.substack.com/p/jfks-summe...

Michelle Young on THE ART SPY "The true story of a World War II resistance hero."

Over at my Substack, @michelleyoung.bsky.social talks about her research behind "the true story of a World War II resistance hero, Rose Valland, who was an art historian inside the museum the Nazis took over to loot art through."

joepompeo.substack.com/p/michelle-y...

The War of the Vanderbilts: When Divorce Came for the Gilded Age How feuding millionaires invented the modern split, and what it could mean for TV’s most refined aristocrats.

TOWN & COUNTRY asked me if I had anything juicy for their GILDED AGE-themed digital issue so I dug into the archives of the great Vanderbilt divorce scandal:

"Every class is concerned with this divorce announcement. It interests the rich as well as the poor who want to be rich."

Suzanne Cope on WOMEN OF WAR "Four anti-fascist Italian women who found their agency and became members of the resistance"

Story behind the story of @suzannecope.bsky.social's new book about four anti-fascist Italian women who found their agency and became members of the resistance during World War II:

joepompeo.substack.com/p/suzanne-co...

Crime as history A good gab with Gary Krist, Abbott Kahler and Michael Wolraich

Blabbing about historical true crime with @garykrist.bsky.social @abbottkahler.bsky.social and @michaelwolraich.com:

Kate Summerscale on THE PEEPSHOW “Johnny, let’s play dig up the bodies!”

Kate Summerscale digs into London's infamous Rillington Place murders in her latest historical true-crime thriller, THE PEEPSHOW, out in the U.S. May 6 and previewed for you over at my Substack:

joepompeo.substack.com/p/kate-summe...

Spies and Dolls Podcast Episode · Very Special Episodes · 04/23/2025 · 50m

Did you ever hear the one about the doll shop spy of World War II? Learn all about it in my latest for iHeartMedia's VERY SPECIAL EPISODES.

Special thanks to the FBI's resident historian, Dr. John Fox, for helping us tell this truly wild tale:

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s...

Death of a Punk not what you think

Come for Clem Burke, stay for Jeffrey Lee Pierce, Sable Starr, Stiv Bators, and more, from @theresakereakes.bsky.social:

Thanks to @harkaudio.com for audio-excerpting our GATSBY episode. You can listen here: harkaudio.com/april-10-202...

F. Scott Fitzgerald, World War II, and the remarkable resurrection of THE GREAT GATSBY “Brilliant Novelist of Twenties, Inactive Recently, Likened Self to Cracked Plate”

For THE GREAT GATSBY'S hundredth birthday, here's the story of how Fitzgerald's Great American Novel went from forgotten Jazz Age flop to timeless literary phenomenon thanks to an anti-fascist book campaign designed to boost the morale of American soldiers during World War II:

Five new books to check out in April The fall of Budapest, the Italian female antifascist resistance, a Gilded Age spy saga, and more.

New narrative-history bangers coming up from @michaelluo.bsky.social, @suzannecope.bsky.social, and more:

Sad news in my inbox from @europaeditions.bsky.social that author/translator @timmohr.bsky.social has died. Didn't know him but his book BURNING DOWN THE HAUS is a great read and an important entry in the punk rock history canon:
www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/tim-m...

Excerpt: The Untold Story of the Titanic's Chinese Survivors "Were they heroes? Were they cowards? Or were they just lucky?"

Head over to my Substack for a sneak peek at Steven Schwankert's riveting, James Cameron-endorsed new Titanic book that hits shelves next week:

Gary Krist on TRESPASSERS AT THE GOLDEN GATE "The murder was just about as brazen and scandalous as it gets."

Behind the scenes of @garykrist.bsky.social's new Gilded Age true crime banger:

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