Alta Journal called my new book True Crime Burbank, “A chilling portrait of Burbank’s criminal history,” and it’s available now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble etc too, as well as stores across Burbank. Here’s a recent piece I wrote for Crime Reads about the Darker Side of Burbank and a “Wicked Words” podcast I did with host Kate Winker Dawson. There will be some events too (dates below). Come and say hello!
For now, here’s an interview I did with my publisher, History Press, about the book, and click for a very fun video I did with @SpookyFoodie at the Blue Room Bar in Burbank, which has two great dark stories at least. And yes, we were day drinking!
September 24, 7pm “The 818 on the 187s” – San Fernando Valley Historical Society, Mission Hills https://sfvhs.org/2026/09/true-crime-burbank-give-me-the-818-on-the-187s-presented-by-james-t-bartlett/
October 3, 11.45am – 12.45pm Burbank Book Festival (at the Buena Vista Library Branch) https://www.burbankbookfestival.com/
October 20, 7pm Burbank Library (Buena Vista Branch) @burbankpubliclibrary (moderator is the legendary Del Howison from Dark Delicacies)
January 27, 2027 2pm at the Burbank Historical Society @burbankhistory
March 13, 2027, 11am “Murder in the 818” – Campo De Cahuenga Museum, Burbank @campodecahuenga.la
I’ll also be posting “On This Day in Burbank” crime stories on my instagram @truecrimeburbank and blogging stories and pictures here on the Blog.
Burbank is known as a haven from the craziness of nearby Hollywood, but the city has a dark underbelly. Nellie May Madison shot her husband to death at their home in 1934 and became the first woman to be condemned to death in California. The brutal 1953 murder of Mable Monohan inspired an Oscar-winning movie, but that didn’t save Barbara Graham and her killer collaborators from the gallows.
In the decades that followed, infamous and violent offenders such as the “Dating Game Killer”, the “Toolbox Killers”, and “Night Stalker” Richard Ramirez hunted for victims in the area, while slayings of detectives, private eyes, bookies and secret gamblers piled up in the cold case files of the police department.
You can order it from History Press, where you will get a 15% discount using the promo code BURBANK or via this link https://www.arcadiapublishing.com/BURBANK