Mystery at the Blue Sea Cottage

This “fast-paced, thoughtful true-crime” examines the cultural shifts of Jazz Age America through a beautiful dancer’s mysterious and scandalous death (Kirkus, starred review).

In January 1923, twenty-year-old Fritzie Mann left home for a remote cottage by the sea to meet a man whose identity she had revealed to no one. The next morning, the dancer’s barely clad body washed up on Torrey Pines beach, her party dress and possessions strewn about the sand. The scene baffled investigators, and abotched autopsy created more questions than it answered. However, the investigation revealed a scandalous secret.

When a Hollywood A-lister was arrested for Fritzie’s murder, it led to the most sensational trial in San Diego’s history. Set against the backdrop of yellow journalism, Prohibition Era corruption, and a lively culture war, Mystery At The Blue Sea Cottage tells the intriguing story of a beautiful dancer, a playboy actor, a debonair doctor, and a tragic mystery that remains unsolved to this day.