The Man Who Died Twice: A Novel about Hollywood's Most Baffling Murder

This book is exciting and engaging. The reader is brought into the story in a clever and creative way. This story is among the best of its kind. I would completely recommend.

This well-researched murder mystery reminds me of Jack Finney's wonderful pair of time travel fantasy-mysteries, From Time to Time, and Time and Again. Peeples' book does not have the romantic charm of Finney's books---the protagonist here is more into the physical aspect of love---but the time travel theme is similar. While Finney used an elaborate deliberate scheme to effect time travel, Peeples chooses to make the ultimate trip an accident.In The Man Who Died Twice, a 1970's Los Angeles Police detective travels back to 1922 Los Angeles, and inhabits the body of William Desmond Taylor, a Hollywood producer who was murdered in real-life Hollywood in February 1922. The LA detective, Ernie Carter, has the advantage of knowing lots of details about the case, from having read the police files, and just living in the Hollywood/LA area all his life. Carter, with Taylor's personality serving as a kind of alter ego, tries to prevent Taylor (and himself!) from being murdered.Along the way, Taylor/Carter encounters many legendary Hollywood figures, including D.W. Griffith, William Randolph Hearst, John Barrymore, Mabel Normand, and Rudolf Valentino. It is sobering to read about the sad and/or untimely end of many of these stars, and to contemplate how little Hollywood has changed since, to wit Judy Garland, Marilyn Monroe, John Belushi, Tony Perkins, and many many others. Peeples brings Hollywood in 1922 to vibrant life, transporting the reader to the silent era with great skill. He seemingly mentions all of the possible murderers, and keeps the reader guessing as to which one he will use as the actual shooter. In real life, the case was never solved, but Peeples' murderer is convincing.An old science fiction story once had a time traveller in the age of dinosaurs walking along a special path, from which he could not stray. He could not pick flowers, kill any of the animals, or leave any evidence of his visit. If he did, all of the ensuing history of the world would change, subtly in the time of dinosaurs, massively in his own 20th century. I am reminded of that story when I read a book like this. I will leave it to you, if you read this book, to discover if Peeples adheres to the tenets of the SF story.