DEADBEAT ESCAPEMENT
by John Ledbetter (Vikon Village Books, February 2026)

The nearly century-spanning epic Deadbeat Escapement begins in the engineered desert of early Hollywood, where the waters of knowledge are capped, film sets rot into shanties, and a rainbow-tinted stucco box at Beverly and Laurel may hide more than hotel rooms. Into this landscape steps Vito Paulekas, whose basement studio radicalizes a generation and whose shadow stretches across the Black Dahlia, Manson Family, and Zodiac Killer mysteries.

 

Author John Ledbetter reconstructs the strata with journalistic rigor and satirical bite, never quite letting the reader decide where documented fact ends and strategic fiction begins. The result is a nonfiction novel that rewards close reading and independent sleuthing in an age when official narratives arrive pre-edited.