I’ve listened to this podcast several times. I love the way they do the voice acting. Totally immerses you in the story. I wish they would do more of these.

I love this podcast. Excellent story and well executed. I hung on every word. All of Tracy’s podcasts are great.

I loved this podcast . I wish they would come out with more episodes.

A very wonderful podcast very well done!!!!!!

It’s AMAZING! I can’t get enough

Listen to the last episode (the interview one) it helps lay out the motive. There are a TON of ads though, really trying to force you to buy wondery+

Well performed and executed, but the twist and turns in the plot lacked intrigue. A lot of characters introduced with background, but you rarely feel a connection to any of them. I don’t think I would listen to it if I had to do it again. The setting was the most interesting part of the story.

Very noir, and well acted in the recreations. I agree that the weird stab-in-the-dark solution was not really within the flow of the rest of the story, but overall, it was good. Nice history, interesting to listen to.

I can't believe I wasted all that time on a murder mystery that not only doesn't know who done it, but at the end, out of the blue, takes a wild stab at who did it and then offers no possible motive why! Way too much pointless detail, way too many irrelevant characters, way too many confusing time jumps. Just a complete waste of time. Who greenlighted this mess? Wondery, you're dead to me.

An addictive story with the usual top notch writing and production from Wondery. A fascinating portrayal of Hollywood in the 1910’s with all the money, drugs, gin blossoms, flighty personalities and violence one would expect as the new entertainment industry was born.

Love James Remar’s work. Perfect actor to be the host of a crime noir story! Love these type of stories from golden Hollywood era.

I listened to several episodes but decided to stop listening. I thought the story was hard to follow and ended up becoming boring.

Great! Fascinating story, great production, it really transports you to another, romantic time.

Thank you for sharing! It was really interesting. I wish we could find out who actually did it!!

I have always enjoyed the Wondery podcasts so I assumed this one would be good as well. I won’t make that mistake again. The story jumps from time period to time period and from starlet to starlet making it difficult to keep up with who they are talking about. Much of it seems like made up dialogue when the characters are interacting with each other. Then the ending just throws in some random people that have never been discussed until the end. Did the movie ever get made? I’m so confused and wish I would have looked at the written reviews before wasting my time listening. Not well written.

This is the first wondery podcast I have not enjoyed. I found it hard to follow and it did not hold my attention. Too many characters to keep straight and it kept jumping forward and back in time between different narrators.... I just found I really didn’t care about random Hollywood starlets from the 20s.

Well done! I was intrigued and informed. Very well narrated and voiced.

I can’t fault a true crime story too much for the circumstances of an ending. However when that story is framed as a murder mystery, the end is more important than with other tales. And not only was the who a last minute addition to the layout of the story but the why was non existent. In that sense, it could have been told better. The overall presentation was enjoyable and James Remar was very good. The description of early Hollywood was also well done. Probably had more episodes than necessary, but the disappointing ending may color that opinion. If you want to listen mainly for a story that describes the early movie business, go for it. If you’re looking for a cool, real life murder mystery, you may be left wanting in the end.

Thanks for this fascinating true and historical mystery. I also learned a lot about the in-and-outs and early history of Hollywood — I doubt that much has changed over the years—quickly fading careers, salaries, unions, etc. Thank you for this great podcast.

I liked the format and it was very professionally done. Good acting. I would have appreciated seeing the source material, citations etc. That would have given it more legitimacy. It’s nice to hear an exact conversation about magazines in a car between two dead people but unless I see a citation for it, I assume it’s fiction and completely made up. The author of the book on which it’s based did a lot of research and some of it could have been put up on the website for those who wanted to see it, without having to go through all of Taylorology online. Can somebody do one about Arbuckle and Rappé? That would be fun!

Split into a bunch of different timelines, across a bunch of characters, with no real sense of direction or suspense. They spent five of the six episodes following one thread and then totally switch gears for the finale and bring in people we’ve never even heard of. This was a really bad podcast.

Hollywood, THEN and NOW, a hot steaming mess.

WOW!!!! Love this podcast!!!

Wondery has been criticized time and time again over Tracy Pattin’s line of confusing, split narrative podcasts. There’s no way they listen to it when editing and say, “yea, this flows well.” There must be some other ulterior motive for writing it like this. Anyway, it’s just not any good. Too much flash without the substance. Needs to be more well thought out.

It’s a decent dramatization but there’s a lot of overacting and overt conjecture that took away from it. It was really irritating however to have no definitive conclusion. You had King Veeder in 1966 “knowing” who murdered Taylor but he never says who. (We’re to assume it’s Mary.) And then out of the blue you just say “nope, it was this bit player we touched on from time to time, making a deathbed confession back in 1964, to Ray Long, who’s never been a factor in the story and who seemingly kept this confession out of the news (or else King Veeder would have known about it). The whole thing just irritates me. I won’t be listening to another Wondery production. Sizzle without the steak.

I have lost track of how many times I have listened to this, and I still don’t understand the ending.

Written and narrated beatifully, Murder in Hollywood land is an intriguing and worthlistening story. Coupled with great tracks, its narrative structure is very appealing. I enjoyed it from start to finish. I highly recommend it!

The way the creators chose to tell this story really dampens the experience listening along while trying to follow the mystery. After the first 5 episodes seemed to be going some place, then the 6th episode is like a huge jerk away from the original narrative and is very confusing the way they chose to jump around and introduce suspects hardly or even never mentioned in any earlier episodes. That last episode was a just sooooo long and beyond confusing that I was literally yelling at my phone to “get to the point!” I normally never write these reviews but this had me so mad after in binged the whole series in a day that I had to write this just to clear my mind.

It was hard enough to pay attention the whole series because of the switching of timelines consistently. Then the last episode came, and I actually thought I missed something because it was so hard to follow. Random characters just pop up. Then the final moments are genuinely to the core disappointing. Meaning, don’t expect a great ending to this story. It’s more of a blah type ending. Makes you wish you could refund your time you invested into it.

I loved this podcast, but the last episode had me so confused. I practically listened to it twice, and I had to rewind the ending a few times cause the deathbed confession was so freakin’ quick, I kept missing it (I listen to podcasts at work). Pretty disappointed with the ending, however, the rest of the podcast was excellent!

A few things that dampened the experience: 1. As with most Wondery productions, the theme music is too loud and never fits the genre. I always find it jarring and louder than the content. 2. It was a dramatized documentary, with the two head writers reading the script, but there was no clarity about why one spoke at one time or the other. It was a turn taking of sorts. 3. *spoiler* History buffs know the murder is unsolved, yet he final episode takes a spin into two unconnected characters in different time periods and after lots of backstory there’s supposed to be this big aha moment that made no sense to me and was very unclear. It left me feeling like I spent all this time with this podcast and there wasn’t a real ending. In fact, if it really was the person with the death bed confession, where were they throughout the first 5 episodes? How could so much time be spent on other suspects just to cut the story off that way. It could have been done differently. Less drama, one narrator, and an ending that doesn’t feel so confusing would have made it four stars.

This is an excellent version, perhaps the best, of the murder of William Desmond Taylor. Voice acting was excellent and the entire endeavor was fairly well-written. I would love to see more old Hollywood tales executed this well.

This podcast started out really good — and was pretty good overall — but I thought it lost steam the last episode or two. Didn’t tie everything together like I’d hoped, and seemed to lose a little focus. But, overall, it was nicely done and I’d listen to other things they offer in the future.

Story jumps around too much for fun me trying to multitask at work. I did listen to it all though.

I was really excited about this podcast and although the story is very compelling I found the style to be slow and meandering at times. However, my main problem is that the ending is extremely unsatisfying. The final episode is drawn out and then just ends rather abruptly with no explanation. Honestly disappointing and a little lazy. The bonus interview episode doesn’t shed more light on the actual case but feels more like a book commercial in interview form.

I enjoy this podcast but they have very long ads throughout the show that disrupts the story. They are focused on selling their pay channel , it’s annoying and makes me turn it off.

I really enjoyed this podcast until Episode 7. It had NOTHING to do with the case except... nope. It had ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the podcast. History of old Hollywood? Yes, if you like that. (Also, a whole lot of “men stink” commentary.) But... NOTHING about Taylor. That was disappointing and why it lost two stars from me.

Really a defining moment in Hollywood history. And maybe even US history. The interview episode is a must listen to, but only after you’ve finished all 6 episodes.

They left it without any answers. That’s pretty disappointing

I really enjoyed this podcast from start to finish. I’m glad I heard the advertising for it; so I had a chance to take a listen. The only negative I’d say is it felt like it ended a bit slow. But I still gave it a 5.0 because I did like it that much; and I felt the ending was solid; if not as stated before a BIT SLOW. I’M GLAD I GOT TO LISTEN TO IT, THO’.

Narrative was great right up until the end when the killer is revealed. They did not set up any real motive for the killer. No clue as to why she’d be the one to do it. Or how. Where would she have gotten the gun? Why would he have even let her in? Who where the suspicious men seen around the neighborhood that day? A real let down.

The split timeline is terrible. Seems like it’s only purpose is to add time for longer episodes and allowing for the other host to contribute. Guess it could be an interesting story but format makes it difficult to enjoy.

I was very engaged in this podcast but then was very upset to listen to the last episode which brought up a “confession” out of the blue with no context, from a person that was barely mentioned in the other 5 episodes. You’re left completely hanging with no conclusion whatsoever - awful end to what could have been a great podcast.

For those wondering the authors point he believed friends of Gibby Gibson , really enjoyed the pod

This podcast is amazing. It’s suspenseful and keeps you interested the entire time. A lot of characters and good backstory/history. Honestly I was really sad when it was over! I want more!! A must listen!

If we can’t get a definitive explanation as to how the murder occurred, then present an interview with the book’s author immediately after episode 6 so we can hear his theories. That being said, the subject matter was interesting and both narrators were great. I hope they will do more podcast narration, especially John B.

In spite of the excessive ads and overwrought narration that splits timelines, I listened because I’m fascinated by this murder. However, the last episode ends with a death bed confession. That’s it! Then we are told to listen to an interview (where is the interview? They don’t tell us. I suppose it would have cut into their 10 minutes of ad time at the end of the episode.) The narrator also mentions we should buy a book written by the man she interviews. I learned more about this case in one hour from Hollywood Crime Scene than I did in 6 episodes of this podcast!

I enjoyed this podcast until the last episode where there is no real ending or explanation. Such a disappointment and waste of time.

I was hooked from the first episode....I am obsessed with early Hollywood & really enjoyed the series. More of this please!!

I love this format and really enjoyed it! I hope you’ll do more like this!