Poison Pen

After reading Poison Pen (070.92 KEL in the Biography section), it's quite obvious that author George Carpozi, Jr. doesn't care for Kitty Kelley.

In case you didn't know, Kitty Kelley has written some rather scandalous books on some prominent people: Elizabeth Taylor, Frank Sinatra, Nancy Reagan, and Jackie Onassis. She loved to dig up dirt on celebrities.

Kelley's writing career started simple enough writing newspaper and magazine articles. A publisher, Lyle Stuart, was impressed with an article she wrote for a new diet plan. Stuart was known for publishing controversial books that other publishers wouldn't touch. The first book Stuart asked Kelley to write was on Jackie Onassis, someone she didn't know nor even meet. Gossip columnist Liz Smith was kind enough to give her boxes of information on Jackie. That gave Kelley a tremendous jump start on the research. While the book was climbing the best-seller list, her relationship with Liz Smith was sinking.

According to Carpozi, Kitty Kelley has burned a lot of bridges during and after writing the books. Carpozi is one of them. At the time when Kelley was researching the life of Sinatra, Carpozi gave her free access to his book he had written on the singer. So ... at one time, Carpozi must have been on good terms with Kelley ... but that was in the past. Now, Carpozi is getting his revenge.

The title, Poison Pen, could be referring to Carpozi's writing as much as Kelley's.

If you are curious about the books that Kelley has written, her are the ones that we carry:

• Elizabeth Taylor: the Last Star (791.43 TAY in the Biography section)
• The Family: the Real Story of the Bush Family (929.2 BUS)
• His Way: the Unauthorized Biography of Frank Sinatra (781.64 SIN in the Biography)
• Jackie Oh! (973.922 KEN in the Biography section)
• Nancy Reagan: the Unauthorized Biography (973.927092 REA in the Biography section)
• The Royals (941.085KEL)
  
  c Waterloo Public Library 2008