In this volume, Bartlett (Gourmet Ghosts) compiles stories of murders, suicides, fatal accidents, and deaths by natural causes in Hollywood, culled from news articles from recent years and from articles dating back to the 19th century. The locations of the deaths range from Hollywood landmarks to bars, restaurants, and hotels. Deaths occur at the Hollywood sign, the Hollywood Heritage Museum, the Frolic Room, the Hollywood Plaza Hotel, the Chocolate Bar, the El Carmen Restaurant, and many more places. There are also anecdotes about ghostly encounters with the deceased, but the majority of the stories in this book focus on the death rather than the afterlife of a particular subject. When hauntings are described, they have less impact than might be expected: the descriptions are mostly just short quotations taken from newspaper reports and lack verve. Bartlett organizes the book by the neighborhoods in which the deaths occurred, with the consequence that finding what you are looking for can entail flipping through the entire book. The large number of death sites described and witty prose up the entertainment value of this off-kilter travel guide. (BookLife)

This review has been updated to clarify how the book is organized.