Joan Crawford Murders Review

Think you know Joan Crawford? Think again. I thought I knew Joan. I loved "Mommie Dearest" and "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane" so I figured Peter Joseph Swanson's "The Joan Crawford Murders" would be a fun read. And it was. I mean, what's not to like?

Joan's making her big MGM comeback with the musical "Torchsong." As testement to her dedication and professionalism she's living in her dressing room, kicking back plenty of vodka and diet pills to help keep her girlish figure, hobnobbing around the studio with the likes of Marilyn Monroe and Debbie Reynolds -- and of course Joan Crawford. She's seeing Joan Crawford EVERYWHERE! Not the REAL Joan Crawford, of course. She's the only real Joan Crawford, which is a good thing because when she does Joan is usually wearing an ensemble from one of Joan's older films -- not to mention being dead. Now that's inconvenient, if not a little frightening. The real victims are actually drag queens, dressed as Joan Crawford in various stages of her career.

This was all very entertaining, of course, but what surprised me was how much I learned about the ins and outs of a Hollywood Studio, and about Joan Crawford herself -- enough that I actually stopped hearing her shout "No more wire hangers!" and started to empathize with her as a character, and by the end I'm rooting for her all the way as Joan Crawford saves the day. But what else can you expect? She IS Joan Crawford.