Summary
- Michael Connelly debuts a true-crime series, The Wonderland Massacre & The Secret History of Hollywood.
- The series showcases a 1980s mass murder in Los Angeles, exploring real-life crime cases in Hollywood.
- Initially an Audible podcast, the series, now on MGM+, features Detective Tom Lange in a series of interviews.
Bosch: Legacy season 3 is set to air on Prime Video channel, Freevee in March 2025, and it'll be the final season of the popular crime series. However, executive producer and author of the Bosch books, Michael Connelly, is busier than ever and has recently launched a new true-crime series called The Wonderland Massacre & The Secret History of Hollywood. Connelly has spent over 30 years writing crime fiction, but he is no stranger to the real thing as he started his career as a crime reporter, and knows all about the real dark underbelly of Hollywood.
The Wonderland Massacre & The Secret History of Hollywood is a four-part true-crime series currently airing on MGM+ in the US. It features Michael Connelly interviewing former homicide detectives including Mitzi Roberts, who was the inspiration for Renee Ballard, about a horrific mass murder in Los Angeles back in the 1980s.
The Wonderland Massacre & The Secret History Of Hollywood Is A Four-Part True-Crime Series Based On A Podcast
|
The Wonderland Massacre & The Secret History Of Hollywood |
|
|---|---|
|
Episodes |
The Heat of a Cold Case, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Up In Smoke, The Last Man Standing |
|
Created by |
Michael Connelly |
|
Directed by |
Allison Ellwood |
Michael Connelly initially developed The Wonderland Massacre & The Secret History of Hollywood as an Audible podcast series. However, the resounding success of the series led to MGM+ launching a documentary series about the famous cold case. The crime took place inside the house of a small drug gang in Laurel Canyon and the series examines how justice isn't always served in the City of Angels. This particular murder investigation featured some stranger than fiction elements that led to the case not being solved.
The series follows the 'missing' witness in the case: a man called Scott Thorson, (who is the author of Behind the Candelabra). The murder took place in 1981, and it baffled the lead detectives on the case: Det. Tom Lange and Det. Bob Souza. They had to deal with thieves, drug addicts and porn stars in an investigation that eventually led to a powerful criminal who became the prime suspect in the case.
Tom Lange and Bob Souza Key Facts
- Lange is most famous for his role in the O.J. Simpson murder case.
- Lange and Souza wrote a book called Malice in Wonderland about the 1981 case.
Michael Connelly Was A Crime Reporter Before He Wrote The Harry Bosch Novels
Michael Connelly is most famous for creating the gripping and hard-hitting crime book series based on Harry Bosch. His books were adapted into the popular Prime Video series, Bosch, in 2014 and over a decade later, the Bosch-verse is expanding and shows no signs of slowing down, despite the announcement that Bosch: Legacy would be ending after season 3. The character of Renee Ballard will be set up in the Bosch: Legacy season 3 finale, before her spin-off series airs in the Fall of 2025. Connelly is an executive producer on both shows, but his career didn't start out in books or television, and instead, his writing career was focused more on real life.
Before becoming a well known novelist and television producer, Michael Connelly was a crime reporter who covered homicide cases in Florida and Los Angeles. He would speak to a number of detectives and his articles delved deep into the real stories behind the brutal murders. Connelly’s experience in this field gave him inspiration for his future novels. In 2006, he wrote a non-fiction book called Crime Beat, which told the real life stories he encountered in a decade working as a reporter. Michael Connelly revealed his ultimate ambition was to become a novelist in an interview with Crime Time back in 2006:
Yes, it was all part of a master plan. Just kidding. Journalism was a means to an end. I studied fiction with the novelist Harry Crews. But I fell in love with Raymond Chandler when I saw Robert Altman’s The Long Goodbye. I read all his novels, and was drawn to LA; I devoured Ross MacDonald and Joseph Wambaugh.
Michael Connelly Key Facts
- Born in Philadelphia, PA on July 21, 1956.
- Studied a major in Journalism and a minor in creative writing at the University of Florida.
- After graduating in 1980, Connelly worked at newspapers in Daytona Beach and Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
- Wrote a magazine story on an airline crash which was short-listed for the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing.
- Worked as a crime reporter for the Los Angeles Times.
- Bestselling author of 39 novels and one work of non-fiction.
- 85 million copies of his books have been sold worldwide.