Author Talk: The Alaskan Blonde

James T. Bartlett discusses his award-winning true crime book The Alaskan Blonde , which looks at the unsolved murder of Cecil Wells in Fairbanks, Alaska, in 1953, by searching the FBI and police files—and some unpublished diaries—to reexamine the case against his wife, Diane. Blonde, glamorous, and 20 years younger than Cecil, Diane said two men had broken into their downtown apartment and killed Cecil before attacking her—but police were immediately suspicious, and an anonymous tip-off led the investigation toward her alleged lover, Black musician Johnny Warren. In the book, interviews with the people close to Cecil, Diane, Johnny, and the mysterious "Third Suspect," Guatemalan dance instructor William Colombany, finally reveal "the most notorious and baffling murder in the history of Fairbanks"—and the tragic Hollywood ending to the case.