VIRTUAL: The Alaskan Blonde: Sex, Secrets & The Hollywood Story That Shocked America

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Anthony Award-nominated and National Indie Excellence Award Winner James T. Bartlett will discuss his new true crime book, The Alaskan Blonde: Sex, Secrets and the Hollywood Story That Shocked America. Known as "the most beautiful woman in Alaska," Diane Wells was bruised and bloodied when she screamed for help in the early hours of October 17, 1953. Her wealthy husband Cecil had been shot dead, and she claimed they were victims of a brutal home invasion. Police were immediately suspicious, and began to search for her alleged lover, black musician Johnny Warren. A sex scandal in far-off Alaska shocked the readers of Newsweek and Life, but no one thought it would end in a Hollywood tragedy. Examine the flawed investigation and learn of new evidence about "the most notorious and baffling murder in the history of Fairbanks." As a travel and lifestyle journalist and historian, James T. Bartlett has written for the Los Angeles Times, BBC, Los Angeles Magazine, Crime Reads, The Guardian, Daily Mirror, and Variety, among others. His fictional short story “Death Under The Stars” was included in the 2023 Sisters in Crime LA anthology Entertainment To Die For, and he is also the author of the three Gourmet Ghosts alternative guides to the history, architecture, crimes and ghost stories behind some of the city’s oldest bars, restaurants and hotels..

This program is sponsored by the Friends of the Library and Corning Community Impact & Investment.