One Day She'll Darken: The Mysterious Beginnings of Fauna Hodel

The inspiration for the TNT TV series I Am the Night.

The Black Dahlia Murder is near-legend in the annals of true crime. But behind the shocking case of a young actress's gruesome slaying lies the story of another woman. Was Fauna Hodel the child of incest, and the catalyst for a sensational trial that left her well-to-do family scarred by scandal, even as the accused sexual predator walked free? Taken as an infant from her teenage mother, Fauna was placed in the care of a working-class black woman, who raised the white child as her own. Together, as a close-knit mother and daughter, they weathered years of poverty and bigotry, alcoholism and sexual abuse, pregnancy and even death—until the time came for Fauna to seek out her real mother, and uncover her lost past. But as Fauna will learn, some truths don't want to be told. Now includes an 8-page photo insert from Fauna's personal collection.