New Book Sheds Light on the Homicide in Lana Turner's Bedroom

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 28, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- On the rainy night of April 4, 1958, inside Lana Turner's rented home in Beverly Hills, the body of gangster Johnny Stompanato lay motionless. With only a small knife wound in his upper abdomen, hidden beneath his clothes, one might think he was only sleeping, but he was dead.

Movie Star and the Mobster takes readers back to that dark, stormy night, and through the dark and stormy relationship of Hollywood glamour queen Lana Turner and her mob insider boyfriend, Johnny Stompanato. From the whirlwind romance, to the knock down fights and murder threats, the affair would come to an abrupt halt when Lana Turner's 13-year-old daughter came rushing into her bedroom during their final encounter, accidentally stabbing Stompanato to death.

Author John William Law recreates a detailed timeline of events to give readers a look behind the glamour and inside the abusive relationship, the night of the killing, the police station arrest, the coroner's inquest, and verdict in one of Hollywood's most enduring scandals.

"Hollywood was rocked by the scandal," says Law. "Few people have ever really heard what really went on during those weeks just prior to, and after Johnny Stompanato's death."

Movie Star and the Mobster revisits Lana Turner's Oscar-nominated performance in Peyton Place and how her unwillingness to take Stompanato to the Academy Awards just weeks earlier, put tragedy in motion. "Stompanato assaulted Lana the night of the Oscars, and both her mother and daughter urged her to go to the police," says Law. "Lana felt her career would never survive if people knew she was dating a mobster, so she refused to seek help."

What makes Movie Star & the Mobster unique is Law's recounting of the fateful moments, a story that has never been fully told. "Lana offered her own take on the events, but really covered only a small portion of the story for her autobiography, and her daughter Cheryl also told her story, but it was more focused on her relationship with her mother and the effect the tragedy had on her life," says Law. "Using court transcripts, police reports, and other available documents surrounding the case I was able to piece together a chronology that takes readers back - not only to the killing, but to the events that led up to and after Johnny Stompanato's death."

Law chronicles the media storm that came crashing down on Lana Turner after, and how she moved past the tragedy. "She didn't think her career would survive the events. Some say she gave her greatest performance on the witness stand, recounting the moment her daughter came rushing into her bedroom, fearing her mother was in danger, and stabbed her lover to death."

Available January 4, 2016 in bookstores and through on-line booksellers like Amazon.com, Movie Star and the Mobster is packed with photographs in a 378-page book or in ebook format. An enhanced ebook on Apple's iBookstore will also be available. The author will host a special series of podcasts on iTunes, talking about Turner and events surrounding the book in the podcast, "Behind the Screen with The Movie Files." To learn more, visit www.aplombpublishing.com.

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SOURCE Aplomb Publishing

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