WELCOME!
Contact:
gregorywilliammank@gmail.com
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Thanks for visiting!
METRO-GOLDWYN-VAMPIRE
Porter Down Hollywood Mystery #3
My long-awaited 3rd Porter Down Hollywood Mystery novel, Metro-Goldwyn-Vampire, has been published!
Copies will be available directly from me at the
upcoming Monster Bash Convention in Mars PA
on June 12 - June 14 (as well as copies of many
of my other books). Please see me at my table
Friday afternoon and evening, Saturday morning
and afternoon, or Sunday morning.
If you will not be able to attend this year's "Bash,"
you can get a copy of the hardback or softback
book on Amazon.
"What's the book about?" you ask...
Take a trip in time back in time 91 years to Hollywood's Golden Age.
In 1934/35, Porter Down is up to his eyeballs in a case he reluctantly accepts on behalf of MGM. Neither he nor the studio brass is happy about this arrangement since his last case for this studio ended with him solving Paul Bern’s death – a death that the studio wanted to remain officially unsolved. Even though the studio was successful in burying the truth of Bern’s death, the fact that Porter is the only
person, outside of the studio, who knows what really happened, makes him a dangerous man to have on the payroll (for an account of this 1932 case see Platinum Widow: Who Killed Jean Harlow’s Husband? book 2 in my Porter Down Hollywood Mystery series).
However, now there is an apparent vampire killer amok during the filming of the Bela Lugosi/Lionel Barrymore/Elizabeth Allan/Lionel Atwill/Carroll Borland classic film Vampires of Prague (which was renamed Mark of the Vampire prior to
theatrical release). The body count keeps mounting while events in Porter’s past threaten to derail his attempts to track down the serial killer (or killers). Is there truly a vampire loose in Hollywood, targeting this production, or is there another sinister reason for the murders? The MGM studio knows that Porter Down is the man to
save the production and catch the perpetrator(s) so he is once again engaged to handle the case.
MONSTER BASH CONVENTION 2026
Monster Bash 2025 was held last June without my being able to attend for health reasons. However, with the dedication and expertise of Geoffrey and Ron, my Murders in the Rue Morgue presentation went on without my physically being present. My “tag-team sandwich” partner, Frank Dello Stritto, made his Murders in the Rue Morgue presentation in person, of course, and he told me that the auditorium was packed for both presentations with Bash attendees willing to sit through my Power Point via Zoom!
Ah, the wonders of technology!
Frank and I are planning to partner again this year for
presentations on 1935’s Mad Love. Monster Bash will
be held once more at the Marriott Pittsburgh North,
Cranberry Township-Mars, PA June 12 through 14.
I will be there IN PERSON this year – I promise!
I will be bringing copies of my latest “Porter Down
Hollywood Mystery” novel, Metro-Goldwyn-Vampire, as
well as copies of the first two books in that series
(Frankenstein's Witch: Saint Lizzie Pray for Us and
Platinum Widow: Who Killed Jean Harlow’s Husband?)
By popular request, I will also have copies of others of my
books for sale (Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff: The Expanded Story of a Haunting Collaboration, Of Mice and Men: Mental Enfeeblement, Racism, and Mercy-Killing in 1939 Hollywood, The Very Witching Time of Night, and Angels and Ministers of Grace Defend Us!)
ALSO RELEASED IN LATE 2025
I continue to have articles published in the British magazine The Age of Thrills 1930s/1940s: my piece on 1945’s The Body Snatcher ran in its Summer 2025 issue #10 and my article on 1943’s The Return of the Vampire in its Fall 2025 issue #11.
NEXT UP
Porter Down will be back for a 4th Hollywood Mystery set in 1942/43, where he divides his expertise between the John Carradine film Hitler’s Madman and the Lon Chaney Jr./Bela Lugosi film Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man.
Since I received so much positive feedback from the publication of 2014’s The Very Witching Time of Night and 2022’s Angels and Ministers of Grace Defend Us - each of which included 13 chapters on various horror film history topics - I have contracted with McFarland & Company to publish a 3rd volume with the same format. The working title is O Horror, Horror, Horror! keeping with the Shakespeare-inspired titles of the previous two. The current line-up of topics includes: new discoveries about the 1931 Frankenstein Monster make-up and the Bela Lugosi test for the role; a trip to Poverty Row to see John Carradine and Edgar Ulmer make a “silk purse out of a sow’s ear” with 1944’s Bluebeard; and the behind the scenes ups-and-downs and ins-and-outs of 1945’s House of Dracula.
Also in the works: the fascinating life and career of MGM Golden Age star Elizabeth Allan!
Hope you come back here soon!
Greg
