From the Publisher
"A fast-paced, fascinating tell-all that’s a previously untold account of the seamy side of Hollywood, politics, and mob activity." —Library Journal, starred review
"A colorful biography...those eager for a peek into classic Hollywood scandals will be well satisfied.”—Publisher's Weekly
"A breathless exposé of Hollywood’s bad old days...Good reading for James Ellroy aficionados."—Kirkus Reviews
"[A] tantalizing and tawdry tale...reminiscent of golden-age crime stories."
—Shelf Awareness
"This thrilling biography, based on personal archives and investigation files, tells not only the story of Otash and how he became the most powerful man in Hollywood's shadows, but also charts the beginning of a celebrity culture still raging today." —Town and Country
"Hollywood fans, let this be the one if you're planning a summer with your nose in a book."—The Eagle Times
"The Fixer is a fascinating read that is almost like looking in someone’s medicine cabinet—you know you’re not supposed to but curiosity gets the better of you.”—New York Journal of Books
Library Journal
★ 04/01/2024
Young (coauthor of You're Only as Good as Your Next One: 100 Great Films, 100 Good Films, and 100 for Which I Should Be Shot) and former communications/PR executive Westphal unearth the story of super-sleuth Fred Otash (1922–92), a private detective who gained the reputation of being a fixer for Hollywood celebrities during the 1950s and '60s. The book begins with Otash's time in the U.S. Marines and his 10-year stint with the LAPD, when he nearly arrested Liberace and verbally sparred with mobster Mickey Cohen. When Otash resigned from the police force in 1955, he established Otash Investigation, which contributed research for the scandal-mongering Confidential magazine, helped Frank Sinatra beat a perjury rap, provided security to Judy Garland, and investigated the murder of Lana Turner's abusive mobster boyfriend. Most notably, Young and Westphal detail Otash's longtime association with Marilyn Monroe, whose house he wiretapped during the time of her alleged affairs with John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy. This segment of the book has the most revelations, though there's plenty of new info throughout. The book concludes with the cover-up story of Monroe's affairs with the Kennedys that was told on ABC's 20/20. VERDICT A fast-paced, fascinating tell-all that's a previously untold account of the seamy side of Hollywood, politics, and mob activity.—Dr. Dave Szatmary
Kirkus Reviews
2024-02-09
A breathless exposé of Hollywood’s bad old days, culminating in the presumed murder of Marilyn Monroe.
Young and Westphal’s protagonist is former detective Fred Otash (1922-1992), a man never shy of publicity, given to bragging that he was the model for Jack Nicholson’s character Chinatown. As the authors write, Otash “lorded over LA’s scandalous underbelly in the conservative, hush-hush, highly moral climate of the 1950s and ’60s.” He skirted the edges of ethical conduct but was fundamentally committed to serving justice. At the time, there was plenty of justice to be served in Hollywood, too. Studio executives were tied up with organized crime, treating their stars as pawns to be awarded to the highest bidder in a place where “there was a boatload of money to be made if you were smart, savvy, driven, and ruthless.” One such pawn was Monroe, who, though smart and self-aware, became a kind of plaything of Jack and Bobby Kennedy. As a private detective, Otash knew his way around the demimonde of gangsters and starlets, turning up all kinds of salacious material for a gossip sheet called Confidential, once “one of the best-selling publications in the nation”—until it was sued into the ground. There’s lots of gossip afoot in these pages, with Peter Lawford sweeping up any evidence of the Kennedys after Monroe’s demise, Lana Turner stepping out on Johnny Stompanato with a young Sean Connery, mob boss Sam Giancana and Jack Kennedy sharing a mistress, and so forth. It all ends in a tangled, sordid tale that readers will dismiss, doubt, or take as gospel truth as they like—but one that, the authors insist, is still too hot to handle, with one producer turning their account down because “I’m friends with Caroline Kennedy.”
Sensationalist and unevenly sourced, but good reading for James Ellroy aficionados.
