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  • The Reporter Who Knew Too Much

  • The Mysterious Death of What’s My Line TV Star and Media Icon Dorothy Kilgallen
  • Written by: Mark Shaw
  • Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
  • Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (59 ratings)

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The Reporter Who Knew Too Much

Written by: Mark Shaw
Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
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Publisher's Summary

Was What's My Line TV star, media icon, and crack investigative reporter and journalist Dorothy Kilgallen murdered for writing a tell-all book about the JFK assassination? If so, is the main suspect in her death still at large?

These questions and more are answered in former CNN, ESPN, and USA Today legal analyst Mark Shaw's 25th book, The Reporter Who Knew Too Much. Through discovery of never-before-seen videotaped eyewitness interviews with those closest to Kilgallen and secret government documents, Shaw unfolds a "whodunit" murder mystery featuring suspects including Frank Sinatra, J. Edgar Hoover, Mafia Don Carlos Marcello, and a "mystery man" who may have silenced Kilgallen. All while by presenting through Kilgallen's eyes the most compelling evidence about the JFK assassinations since the House Select Committee on Assassination's investigation in the 1970s.

Called by the New York Post "the most powerful female voice in America" and by acclaimed author Mark Lane "the only serious journalist in America who was concerned with who killed John Kennedy and getting all of the facts about the assassination," Kilgallen's official cause of death, reported as an overdose of barbiturates combined with alcohol, has always been suspect since no investigation occurred despite the death scene having been staged. Shaw proves Kilgallen, a remarkable woman who broke the "glass ceiling" before the term became fashionable, was denied the justice she deserved - until now.

©2016 Mark Shaw (P)2016 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

What listeners say about The Reporter Who Knew Too Much

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

She was a pioneer

Great story and great book. The first half of the book was a biography of her life, which was great. From there it’s largely conjecture about what might have happened. As she was investigating a conspiracy, and the author is investigating her death, it's conspiracy upon conspiracy here, which I can only take so much of. It felt like it could have been 2 hours shorter. Lots here for those fascinated by the JFK assignation.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A time will come

Incredibly informative and justifying my long time suspicions. Government is obviously a continuous corrupt entity.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

A little long in the tooth

This book could have Ben 20-40% shorter and still would conveyed the same information

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

interesting.

lots of facts to digest. amazing how many names are still in the news today.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Fascinating Woman

I had actually never heard of Dorothy Kilgallen - a legitimate "she-can-do-it-all" woman in the 1950s and 60s (think 'Mad Men'). Women quite simply didn't act that independently (+/- abrasively) back then. Legal Analyst/Author Mark Shaw paints a compelling picture of a strong, opinionated, influential, Take-No-Shit feminine figure who made a lot of enemies and died suddenly.
Unfortunately, Shaw takes it to jawdropping places. The first half of the book is researched exhaustively, presents Kilgallen as a genuinely admirable celebrity figure/influential reporter, and is written exceedingly well.. but the second half is a series of conjectures based on astoundingly thin evidence (wearing makeup in bed; strange wording on autopsy reports; etc). The book slips into the ludicrous pretty quickly.
Shaw also has a persistent habit of completing sentences with direct quotes from witnesses. The writing technique gets extremely annoying.

Fortunately for the listener, Gabra Zackman is an excellent narrator. Her diction, cadence, timbre, and rate of reading are spot-on. Most remarkable, however, is Zackman's tone: she reads emotively and with enough evident interest to keep her listeners immersed in text that is admittedly often boring/repetitive.

This book likely rates 6.5/10 stars, but exemplary production quality brings my rating up to 8 stars out of 10. I am grateful to Audible for including 'The Reporter Who Knew Too Much' for free with my subscription - I likely wouldn't have tried it otherwise - and it's likely worth a Credit for those who are interested in such diverse topics as the Sam Sheppard murder case, the JFK Assassination, the Jack Ruby trial, and Mafiosi figures in 1950s New York. This unapologetic woman who put a target on her back was something else..

[Incidentally: I actually laughed out loud at the sentence: "Since her liver was only fatty and not cirrhotic, rumors that she was alcoholic can be put to rest." Thank you, Mr. Shaw. I haven't read anything that funny in a long time]

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

How brains & determination will create such a force.

I was looking forward to the book. Not disappointed in the story however, I felt there was a lot of repetitiveness so I kept wondering whether if I had gone back. Very frustrating. Very sad her death was swept under rug. No human deserves that.

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