Alta Journal is pleased to present “Murder on the Starlight Express,” a five-part original series by author and Alta contributor David Talbot. Each week, we’ll publish online the next portion of the story. Visit altaonline.com/serials to keep reading, and sign up here to be notified by email when each new installment is available.
This is a fictional account of a 17-day, cross-continental whistle-stop tour that carried Warner Bros. stars (including the author’s father, Lyle Talbot) from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C. The real train journey took place during the depths of the Depression, and its purpose was to promote the film 42nd Street and entertain the public at each city along the route, spreading good cheer in the run-up to president-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt’s inauguration.
ACT 1
The Warner Bros. publicity team devises a cross-country train trip to promote a new movie and bring the studio’s stars to cities across America.
ACT 2
Warner Bros. luminaries, joined by legendary wit Dorothy Parker and union organizer C.L. Dellums, make their way to Yuma, Arizona. Only a murder could upset this magical trip.
ACT 3
With the corpse of a murder victim on board, the Starlight Express stops at Chicago Union Station, where the intrigue only deepens.
Act 4
The Starlight Express approaches Union Station in Washington, D.C., and the mystery touches FDR’s coming inauguration.
Act 5
David Talbot explains the facts behind his work of fiction.
David Talbot's latest book is Between Heaven and Hell. He is the founder of Salon magazine; the author of Brothers, The Devil's Chessboard, and Season of the Witch, and a journalist and columnist who has written for the New Yorker, Time, the San Francisco Chronicle, and others.
