Great mystery! This book, by Suzanne Finstad, has it all - a thorough biography of legendary recluse Howard Hughes and a Rubik's Cube of plot twists and turns in a fascinating quest to unravel who will win the race to claim the billionaire's fortune. If this were a movie, and it should be, it would be a combination of "Citizen Kane" and "Chinatown!"

This book is a jewel for Hughes aficionados. The author, Suzanne Finstad, is a lawyer who was the lead investigator appointed by the probate court to locate the heirs to Howard Hughes' millions.

Finstad spent five years on the probate case and had access to all of Hughes's private documents, from childhood letters to secret tape-recordings to his autopsy report, in addition to deposition testimony from his wives, girlfriends, business associates, etc. This book came out in 1984, 16 years before the ... book on Hughes, which purports to be the first Hughes biography to utilize his probate records.

HEIR NOT APPARENT is an insider's account of Hughes's life, as well as a spellbinding detective story, a byzantine tale of greed, genealogy, Hollywood, and lost dreams.

Who shot Henry Kyle is a real life version of "Who Shot JR?". Kyle was a handsome, flamboyant, Texas tycoon and wannabe big-time Hollywood producer found dead in a pool of blood in his Beverly Hills mansion. Initially suspecting a burglar, police soon added to their suspect list several people with reasons to want Kyle dead. Among them: the "mystery wife" who suddenly appeared at the funeral; the beautiful, illegitimate daughter who was starved for affection but addicted to cocaine; a troubled son about to be disinherited; and a long list of girl friends, ex-wives, and unsavory acquaintances. Author Suzanne Finstad has untangled this web of money, murder, and betrayal with all the glamour & intrigue of a real-life "Dallas."

This book grabs you from the beginning and never lets you go! More twists and turns than a fiction writer could imagine. It is Finstad at her best!

I have mixed feelings about this book; while it is well written and interesting (I love true crime), I became increasingly angry and finally lost interest because of the Barbara and her incredible inability to see reality; Richard Minns beat her up;she saw how he lied and manipulated to get what he wanted and SHE COULDN'T LEAVE HIM- Puh-lease---I usually have a degree of empathy with a character who is treated badly but not this one; She is very lucky she isn't dead---I am also disappointed that justice in this case did not prevail and that weasel sociopath got away with his crime

As a professor of Women's Health, I want to be sure to remind all women to read "Sleeping With The Devil" by Suzanne Finstad. It is one of the best texts out there that describe in mind-shattering detail the intricacies and hidden subtleties of toxic relationships. I have found Ms. Finstad's meticulously researched story of Barbara Piotrowski to be one of the best educational and life-saving assignments that I can give to my students. Thank you, Suzanne. Your insight and biographical genius continue to amaze me.

Heard the taped version of SLEEPING WITH THE DEVIL by Suzanne
Finstad, a true crime story about a Texas beauty queen and the
self-made millionaire who loved her . . . or so it seemed . . . then his
world fell apart and he blamed her . . . that is, before he attempted
to kill her . . . I now see why I like these type books better than
typical mysteries . . . I'm reading one now (the latest by
Mary Higgins Clark), and there is just no comparison . . . this
is so much better! . . . it makes you feel like you really
know the characters, and you find yourself hoping--against
all odds--that the ending is going to differ from what really
happened . . . my only disappointment was in the ending,
but that was not because of the author; rather, somebody
seemed to get away with murder--or something very close
to it . . . if you're in the mood for a gripping tale of obsession
and murder, this is the book for you!

This book is about the killing of Texas Tycoon Henry Kyle, and how they believed and convicted his son Ricky. Anyway, this book looks deep into how a rich man can have many problems, family separations, and intrigues. The convicted son, who attended the same school as I did is portrayed as a mean kid trying to get his dad will, the investigation made by the author, goes beyond police records and I consider it a great compilation of stories from the people that knew the late Henry Kyle, this book goes on shmooth, and has the reader on the edge.

A greater mystery than "Who Shot J.R.?" is "Who Shot Henry Kyle?" - a former Texas multi-millionaire and wannabe big-time Hollywood producer. The handsome, flamboyant tycoon was found in a pool of his own blood in his posh Beverly Hills mansion. After suspecting a burglar, police soon added to their suspect list several prople with reasons to have Kyle killed....... the "mystery wife" who suddenly appeared at the funeral; the gorgeous out-of-wedlock daughter who was starved for love and addicted to cocaine; a troubled son about to be disinherited; and a long list of girl friends, ex-wives, and unsavory acquaintances. Author Suzanne Finstad has skillfully untangled this web of money, murder, and betrayal with all the glamour and intrigue of a real-life "Dallas."

Natalie Wood was one of my favorite actresses and I was shocked by her drowning death at such a young age under such strange circumstances. I was anxious to read this book and had mixed feeling about it once I was finished. The writer dealt excessively with the obsessive behavior of the Russian mother who acted like Natalie/Natasha was part of her own psyche. The woman was truly evil, as evidenced by a horrifying tale of her plucking the wings off a butterfly to get her child to cry on cue. As a reader, you need to patiently plough through a lot of overwrought writing to glean interesting facts like that. In addition to a brutal description of the rape itself, there were several references to the "Hollywood star" who attacked Natalie and is apparantly still alive since the writer "can't believe he can live with himself." I find it hard to believe that hotel records could not have been researched for a stronger clue to this man's identity. Was the writer paid off by the actor's children? If you are at all a Hollywood follower, you can pretty much figure out who this person is (at least I think I have anyway) and indeed his family name is very powerful. Another weakness is that the drowning sequence stories drag on for pages, are ultimately inconclusive, and focus excessively on Natalie's fear of drowning in dark water. We read about this fear throughout the book in excessively purplish prose. I found it amazing to read how much alcohol was drunk by the four people on board, however, over the days leading up to the tragedy. And the image of RJ leaning over the boat and mocking a drowning Natalie is truly chilling, though not totally convincing. Overall, a pretty good read -- chock full of details that, while meticulous, are repeated so often that you get tired of reading them. I wish there was more information about how her children fared after her death. She seemed to be a wonderful mother and I wonder how the daughters have reacted to all the rumors that continue to swirl around her death. The book definitely helped me to see more sides of Natalie and to understand why she always looked so serious in her movies; she did not have an easy life, despite all the furs and glamour. I wish she had received an Academy Award for "Spendor in the Grass." She certainly deserved it.

Suzanne Finstad pulled together an amazing biography of Natalie Wood that took years of interviews and tells the true story of Natalie's difficult life behind the scenes. Those of us who worked with her, knew her well (we thought) will be amazed at what we never suspected. I wrote my book Hairdresser to the Stars, A Hollywood Memoir about the seventeen years I worked closely with her but after reading this book, Natasha, I realize I hardly knew her. I loved her and am saddened that she could never share her life with those of us that worked closely with her. She was always a professional, an actress who only showed her lovely sides. We never knew about the darkness. Here was a beautiful woman, loved and desired by so many men, talented and wealthy and yet never achieved the happiness she desired in her life. She supported her friends in their careers and lives and yet seemed to have been left in the dark. Reading this book brought back memories and wonderful occasions along with the sadness that she left us much too soon. I think by now, if Natalie was still alive she would have said "to hell" with all this hiding my life and read the book with pleasure and a sigh of relief and would have quoted Woody Guthrie "I used to care but things have changed." Read it with love.

WOW! THIS BOOK IS PROBABLY ABOUT THE BEST BIOGRAPHY I HAVE EVER READ ABOUT NATALIE WOOD OR ANYONE ELSE FOR THAT MATTER. THE AUTHOR TRULY MAKES YOU CARE ABOUT NATALIE. THERE ARE TIMES WHILE READING THIS I JUST WANTED TO CLOSE THE BOOK AS IF THAT MIGHT STOP WHAT I KNEW THE BOOK WAS GOING TO INEVITABLY LEAD TO. THE AUTHOR PORTRAYS NATALIE AS SOMEONE TORN BETWEEN TWO WORLDS AND TWO SELVES ONE REAL THE OTHER INVENTED. THOUGH I MUST ADMIT I AM CONFUSED ABOUT SOME OF THE THINGS NATALIE'S SISTER LANA SAID THAT DIFFERED FROM THE THINGS SHE SAID IN HER OWN BOOK ABOUT NATALIE (NATALIE:A MEMOIR BY HER SISTER)BACK IN 1984. IN THAT ONE SHE SAYS SHE DID NOT BELIEVE ANY OF THE RUMOURS SURRONDING HER SISTERS DROWNING AND ROBERT WAGONER'S INVOLVEMENT. BUT IN THIS ONE SHE TELLS A SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT STORY. BUT BACK TO THE BOOK IT IS A TREMENDESLY READABLE NOVEL AND IS PACKED WITH LOTS OF INFORMATION ON NATALIE'S LIFE BEFORE HOLLYWOOD AND HER FAMILY HISTORY. IT DOESN'T SUGARCOAT HER, HE LIFE, OR HER DEATH. BUT IT IS NEVER DISRESPECTFUL OR SLEAZY. IT SHOWS NATALIE TO BE CONFUSED, TROUBLED, AND VULNERABLE. A MUST READ FR ANYONE EVEN SLGHTLY FAMILIAR WITH NATALIE WOOD'S LIFE AND/OR FILMS.

This books fills in a lot of questions I had after reading Elvis and Me. Many have been confirmed in what I thought the anwers would be. Like how she claimed Elvis made her wear the dark make-up and teased black hair when none of his other women wore this look. And why her parents let her spend so time with him at 14 yrs.old. And they even never chaporoned her dates with him. How could she'd been a virgin on their wedding night when they were together for so long before she and Elvis married.There was so many other questions answered. Priscilla was a "wild child" and a sexpot that decieved Elvis. I wonder what else she's decieved others about. I used to like her and defend her but now I just don't know. She's definitely different from how she thinks her image is or should be. There' plenty of people in the book to back it up and they do.

I loved this book. finally someone took the time to dig under the surface. Priscilla comes off as this bewildered, all suffering person. She knew exactly what she was getting in to and what was expected of her. From watching interviews and reading stories Priscilla gave, I always felt deep down that she didn't care for Elvis. This book points to that. Even in the face of her own words, Priscilla denies the obvious. She saw dollar signs, as I felt her parents did, and went after it. I did feel for Priscilla about discovering her real parentage. Can you imagine finding the answers to your questions in the bottom of a trunk? How could her mother do that to her? You read in books that Elvis molded Priscilla to the way she is today. I find that laughable! Her mother taught her to keep secrets, not to talk about nothing. I recommend this book to anybody who wants to know the Priscilla truth. Superb reading!

I read this book sincerely wanting to better understand who Priscilla was. Before reading it, and after reading several books on Elvis's life, I felt that Priscilla was a beautiful young girl who got swept up in the Elvis turmoil and did her best to survive. Any meanness in her, I felt, was due largely to the difficulties she endured. But then I wondered about the negative remarks by other people, and I noted how aggressively she had taken over Elvis's estate, all the while suggesting that it was foisted upon her. I also wondered about the absurd way she was allowed to come live at Graceland as a child. Some things didn't add up, so I read Finstad's book.

What an amazing amount of research went into this, right down to interviewing friends from Priscilla's childhood and adolescence. No stone seems to have been left unturned. The resulting picture of Priscilla isn't pretty, but it certainly comes across as accurate. Finstad presents an evolving analysis of Priscilla, frequently referring back to earlier events to show the consistency of Priscilla's behavior. To some readers this might seem overdone, but then Finstad is presenting a story that contradicts an image. Some readers will require more to convince them. Finstad's analysis fills in the blanks, ties up the loose ends, and answers most of the questions I had before reading the book. It was not my impression that Finstad set out to do a hatchet job, and Priscilla is not depicted as being all bad. Finstad simply uncovered the truth that was there all along.