BRIAN DE PALMA - BLACK DAHLIA LEGEND CONTINUES TO GROW

The mysterious death of actress ELIZABETH SHORT is to feature in yet another Hollywood movie after New Line studio bosses bought up the rights to former Los Angeles detective STEVE HODEL's recollection of the case. Short, dubbed the Black Dahlia because of her stunning dark features, was found brutally murdered and dismembered in 1947, and Hodel led the case to find her killer. Recalling the case in his book BLACK DAHLIA AVENGER, the retired cop revealed his own father DR GEORGE HODEL was the prime suspect - and remains the man most people believe killed Short. New Line boss JEFF KATZ, a longtime fan of true crime stories, has picked up the movie rights to Hodel's book just two weeks before director BRIAN DE PALMA's much-anticipated film noir THE BLACK DAHLIA hits cinemas.