American Lightning, by Howard Blum

A tale of the first "crime of the century "(20th century). In 1910, 21 people were killed in a bombing of the LA Times. It was a period when labor relations were vicious and often bloody. The event brought together famous detective Billy Burns (first director of what became the FBI), attorney Clarence Darrow (of Scopes monkey trial fame) and filmmaker D.W. Griffith (of Birth of a Nation shame). The Griffith connection is a touch flimsy, but still interesting.