Fatal Charms and Other Tales of Today/The Mansions of Limbo (Omnibus)

By Dominick Dunne

Dominick Dunne has met them all--stars and slugs, criminals and victims, the innocent and the hideously guilty--and now his two provocative collections of Vanity Fair portraits are in one irresistible volume. From posh Park Avenue duplexes to the extravagant mansions of Beverly Hills, from tasteful London town houses to the wild excesses of million-dollar European retreats, here are the movers and shakers--and the people who pretend to be. Among colorful profiles and revealing glimpses of Elizabeth Taylor, Claus von B low, Gloria Vanderbilt, and Aaron Spelling, discover who dumped an heiress the night before the wedding to run off with the best man . . . what happens when the ex-husband of a movie legend becomes president . . . why a beautiful singer fell in with the mob . . . and, in Dunne's most personal story, how a lying murderer and a limelight-loving judge denied justice to his family after his daughter's life was brutally destroyed. Filled with pathos and wit, insight and sass, this candid, controversial volume gives you an extraordinary peek into the rarefied world of the rich, the royal, and the ruined. For Dunne is the man who knows all their secrets--and now those secrets are out.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 034543059X
• ISBN13: 9780345430595
• Release Date: March 1999
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Length: 530 Pages
• Weight: 0.97 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.7" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Fun book to read

This is really a fun book to read. Dunne does a really good job explaining the lifes of the rich and famous!! I will read more of his books.

An All-Night Page Turner!

It's had been quite some time since I'd picked-up a book I couldn't put down, but this one ended the drought! It made me an instant Dominick Dunne fan and wishing that he'd continue the saga for the Bradley family in future novels. If you have ever been intrigued by the lifestyles of the rich and infamous, or the larger than life experiences of the Kennedy's, then click on the order button and prepare to curl up with this unforgettable story!

Addicted to the Pages

When I picked up Mr. Dunne's novel for my book collection of his amazing works, it was another week of neglecting my duties as a Mother to my starving children. Thank goodness for the microwave! I am a Vanity Fair subscriber and always will be due to Mr. Dunne's genius writing. Mrs. Litras.

Truly engaging read

I have enjoyed Dominick Dunne's novels (novels in disguise!), but this book has left me wishing I had been a Vanity Fair subscriber. I never realized what I had been missing, although I might have not read anything else in that magazine. I almost didn't order it, because I was disappointed with his previous work-The Way We Lived Then-which was exactly what he said it was, the recollections of a well-known name dropper, all names and not much content. However-this book is wonderful-and probably more so the recollections of a name dropper. Incredible true stories of the rich and famous, and maybe some not so famous, all intensely interesting. A number of the essays involve crime-beginning with his description of the trial of the man who killed his daughter, and including pieces on the Mendez brothers, O.J. Simpson, Claus Von Bulow, and more, told as only an "insider" could. Yet not all of the tales are crime related, so if you're looking for tabloid-style, tell all stories, this probably isn't the book for you. He tells the tales of high society with a touch of class, and I can't imagine that he has made many enemies, and probably remains in good favor with most of the people he has included in these pages. I finished the book wanting to go back and re-read several of my favorite stories, and wishing there was a sequel I could now continue with. Enjoy-I read it in 2 days.