Alfred Hitchcock, Winona Ryder, Dean Martin and More Appear inBeverly Hills Noir: Crime, Sin, & Scandal in 90210(Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Lindsey Foard; Post Hill Press

Think the 90210 is all glitz and glamour? Think again.

Veteran entertainment journalist and longtime PEOPLE contributor Scott Huver has taken his experience in the industry, which began at a local newspaper in Beverly Hills, to pen the new true crime anthologyBeverly Hills Noir: Crime, Sin, & Scandal in 90210, out Oct. 1 from Post Hill Press.

“I couldn’t resist digging back into my own experiences as a local newspaper and magazine reporter to recount some genuinely unknown ‘only in 90210’ crimes I covered in the 1990s and 2000s, in which the culprits slipped into character as intensely as any Hollywood actor,” Huver says.

“It’s the dark side of having it all: jaw-dropping crime scenes, astronomically priced losses, celebrity appearances around every corner and consequences that still resonate today,” he adds.

The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now!

The book covers some of the most well-known Hollywood crime scandals, includingWinona Ryder’s December 2001arrest for shoplifting clothes worth $5,500 from a Saks Fifth Avenue storein Beverly Hills, Calif., but mostly addresses those that may have flown under readers' radar.

“For this first volume ofBeverly Hills Noir,I wanted to take deep dives into less-frequently explored cases like the above stories,” he adds.

Below, exclusively for PEOPLE, Huver offers a little taste of some of the crimes and characters readers will find inBeverly Hills Noir.

Alfred Hitchock’s Arrest

Courtesy of Everett

The Greystone Mansion Murder-Suicide

Ned Doheny (left) leaves the federal court in Los Angeles with his stepmother Estelle and father Edward L. Doheny during the Teapot Dome trial in 1924.Everett Collection Historical / Alamy

Everett Collection Historical / Alamy

The circumstances and characters involved inspired popular storytellers ranging from pulp novelist Raymond Chandler and filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson, and – with its theme of power and money triumphing over truth – the case is aChinatown-esque tale of corruption and cover-up.

Walter Wagner ambushes Joan Bennett

Imagine the scandalous headlines that would follow today if one of Hollywood’s most successful and respected movie producers confronted his glamorous movie star wife and her high-powered talent agent over their affair — at gunpoint. In the agency’s parking lot. Directly across the street from the Beverly Hills police station. Aiming for the agent’s groin.

That was the seamy scenario in 1951 when Walter Wanger, known for all-time classics likeStagecoachandForeign Correspondent, ambushed Joan Bennett, a film noir femme fatale today remembered for her roles inFather of the BrideandDark Shadows, and her representative-turned-lover Jennings Lang over their trysts in an apartment rented for Lang’s agency’s client, Marlon Brando. What followed was an master class in spin control, with repercussions later felt on screen in classic films includingI Want to Live!,Cleopatraand even Billy’s Wilder’sThe Apartment.

Frank Sinatra (left) and Dean Martin getting into their usual boozy hijinks in 1966.Pictorial Press Ltd. / Alamy

Pictorial Press Ltd. / Alamy

Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin’s barroom brawl

In 1966, still-legendary Rat Packers Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin were already as iconic as the Polo Lounge of the Beverly Hills Hotel – the “Pink Palace” that has embodied the city’s luxurious image for a century and famously graces the cover of the Eagles’Hotel Californiaalbum — but they had to wonder if their superstar careers hit a disastrously sour note after a raucous late-night birthday celebration erupted into a barroom brawl, during which one of their millionaire opponents collapsed unconscious on the floor. But who punched out who, and how did it all impact Sinatra’s May-December romance with Mia Farrow?

A standoff on Rodeo Drive

The 1980s were the pinnacle of Rodeo Drive’s rise as one of the world’s most glamorous shopping streets — that heady, designer-conscious, wild-spending era of conspicuous consumption, as seen in films likeBeverly Hills CopandPretty Woman. And the Van Cleef & Arpels jewelry boutique was — and remains — one of the hallmarks of avenue.

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Beverly Hills Noir: Crime, Sin, & Scandal in 90210hits shelves Oct. 1 and is available for preorder now, wherever books are sold.

source: people.com