Sharon Tate and the Manson Murders

By: Greg King

Narrated by: Lewis Arlt

Length: 13 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

It began as a home invasion by the “Manson family” in the early hours of August 9, 1969. It ended in a killing spree that left seven people dead: actress Sharon Tate, writer Voyteck Frykowski, coffee heiress Abigail Folger, hair stylist Jay Sebring, student Steven Parent, supermarket owner Leno LaBianca, and his wife, Rosemary.

The shock waves of these crimes still reverberate today. They have also, over time, eclipsed the life of their most famous victim - a Dallas beauty queen with Hollywood aspirations. After more than a dozen small film and television roles, Sharon Tate gained international fame with the screen adaptation of Jacqueline Susann’s Valley of the Dolls, but The Fearless Vampire Killers marked a personal turning point, as she would marry its star and director, Roman Polanski. Tate now had a new dream: to raise a family - and she was only weeks away from giving birth the night Charles Manson’s followers murdered her.

Drawn from a wealth of rare material including detective reports, parole transcripts, Manson’s correspondence, and revealing new interviews with Tate’s friends and costars as well as surviving relatives of the murder victims, Sharon Tate and the Manson Murders gives a vital new perspective on one of the most notorious massacres of the 20th century.

©2019 Dreamscape Media, LLC (P)2019 Dreamscape Media, LLC

The new authority on this sensational story

this book takes the place of Helter Skelter as the bible of this crime.
I have read 4 or 5 books on this topic and this, by far is the most thorough, thought provoking and emotiontendering of the hem all. a must read if you have an interest in this subject.

fantastic!

if you enjoy true crime stories then I would highly suggest you listen to this audiobook! it's very well written and narrated!

Sharon’s life story

Another excellent book on Sharon Tate. This one focuses on her life as a young girl and her entry into the world of movies. It also focuses on her relationship with Roman Polanski. It doesn’t go deep into the trial or life at Spahn Ranch like Helter Skelter, which is an excellent account of those two nights in August when seven people were brutally murdered, but i think the author was more interested in leaving the reader with a better understanding of the victims, particularly Sharon Tate.

Creepy Stuff

I am Sharon Tate's age and remember well the story of this appalling slaughter. Author Greg King does a good job of distilling the awful events of those two nights, as well as the lengthy police investigation that followed the murder spree. He also gives a fulsome account of the lives and backgrounds of the key participants, both victims and perps.

Charles Manson is that unknowable element, the perverted instigator who pushed members of his "family" into carrying out the killings. King does his best to explore Manson's sick outlook on life and people, but we are left with the unsatisfying conclusion that Manson is a broken human being who should never be allowed back into society.

As to the members of the "Manson family", we can only shake our heads. They may have been young and drug-addled but this does little to illuminate their blind obedience to Manson's orders. We can only conclude that water seeks its own level.

Very Good!

The narrator was brilliant! The story, a familiar and sad one, made almost new by how it was told. I would most definitely recommend this audible book.

Stella

The other side to the story

This story is very informative and appreciated. The victims and their family members are represented in this book which is usually not the case. It is not all about Charlie and “the family”. There were some parts that were difficult to hear. I had to take a break from listening for a few days. It is another layer of the story including Helter Skelter.

King on Tate

It was a pleasure listening to Greg King’s Sharon Tate and the Manson Murders. The voice and cadence of the performer seemed to me exactly right for the material. Before listening to this I considered myself well above average in my knowledge of The Family and the Manson Murders, but it was eye opening and satisfying to learn more about the back stories of the victims.

Although much of the material outlining the crimes and the pursuit of justice was very similar to accounts by other authors, there is a wealth of information about the short life of Sharon Tate and the others that was much more interesting and illuminating than I would have imagined. King should be commended for the even-handed and non-sensationalistic description of the life & times of Tate. He reminds the reader of all the sordid gossip and distortions that appeared in the mass media at the time of the killings, but without relishing in it or seeming to exploit.

I found myself liking Sharon Tate and even felt compelled to watch most of her films; which was mostly worth it ! But the most impressive thing that I noticed in listening to King’s book is that I
“felt” the murders more intimately and experienced genuine anger that they were attacked so savagely and so profoundly disrespected. When listening to the chapters that described the brutality — which I’ve read or heard about on dozens of occasions — for the first time I gritted my teeth and fleetingly imagined morbid things that no one wants to remember. These feelings were a product of King’s research and narrative skills and a powerful reminder that humanized violence is violence ten-fold. This reminder alone made this Audiobook well worth my time. RPP

Finally a sense of who the victims were

This was an excellent listen even though much has been written about the August 1969 LA murders. This author focuses also on who the victims were--their lives, histories, personalities. The Tate family--first Doris (Sharon's mother) and Patty (her sister) have made sure all these years that the murderers are denied parole. Apparently they don't understand that life in prison means life in prison. (Some of them got the death penalty, which later got commuted to life). No one who did the heinous things and cut lives short for no reason should ever walk free again. For those unfamiliar with the case and/or who were too young to remember it when it happened, it's hard to depict how very brutal and shocking it was. These readers/listeners will find this an excellent book.

The True Story

A wonderfully written book! It covers most of the details we all know but it goes deeper into Sharon's life, her career and relationships. Who knows what Sharon would have achieved had her life not ended so young. No doubt she would have been a wonderful, caring mother. It is worth a listen.