"The First Goth"

"When Niemi learned of her aunt's death in 2008, she hurried to Los Angeles on 'limited funds' and signed the death certificate. Then she discovered dozens of pages of an unfinished autobiography stashed around Nurmi's apartment—crumpled in the pockets of old shirts, taped to the backs of pictures and calendars. Slowly, she pieced the story together, even though she had never written anything before and felt 'riddled with self-doubt.' But she persisted—and for this, lovers of bad movies, macabre jokes and old Hollywood should be grateful."

Scott Bradfield at the Los Angeles Times reviews Sandra Niemi's Glamour Ghoul: The Passions and Pain of the Real Vampira, Maila Nurmi.