A Lovely Girl
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About the Author
Deborah Holt Larkin is uniquely qualified to tell this captivating yet horrifying crime story. From a front row seat in her family’s living room, she lived the fear and disbelief that gripped her hometown in 1958.
Larkin holds a bachelor’s degree in American History and Literature from the University of California at Davis, and she studied creative writing at the University of California at San Diego. She has a master’s degree in the Education of Exceptional Children from San Francisco State University.
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In her own words…
(the author’s inspiration to write the story)
My life-long interest in true crime stories began in 1958 when Olga Duncan vanished from her Santa Barbara apartment in the middle of the night. At the time, I was a passionate Dragnet and Nancy Drew fan. But when Olga’s brutally-beaten body was discovered a month later in a shallow grave on a lonely road near my home town, my focus shifted to the real-life mystery. I had a constant source of information from my father’s newspaper articles about the murder and his never-ending monologue around the house detailing the bizarre Ma Duncan case. I became obsessed with the true crime story. My mother tried to rein Daddy in with an occasional, “Shhh, you’re scaring the girls, Bob,” but he had few boundaries when it came to the news of the world. I hung on his every word because I wanted to understand about evil people and how to avoid them.
To me, this story is inextricably linked to a more innocent, unsophisticated era just before the dramatic changes of the 1960s, when we all believed that bad things didn’t happen in our own small towns if we all followed the rules. In between the carefully researched true crime procedural chapters, the thread of the story winds back to chapters of my coming-of-age memoir about our quirky family life and my dawning realization that sometimes terrible things can happen to good girls. That evil can hide behind a mask of normalcy.
The Latest
Bob Holt Reporting
From the Author: During my dad’s career, he wrote a weekly Bob Holt Reporting newspaper column on every subject imaginable – from the mundane to the lofty. He wrote about anything that interested him, and everything interested him, especially our quirky family life. His whimsical columns about the goings on in our home ran in the same newspaper as the banner headlined articles he wrote about the sensational murder. I have chapters about my family alternating with the crime chapters in A LOVELY GIRL because that is the way I lived this story.
Betsey’s Appendicitis
Sixty-five years ago, my little sister Betsey survived a critical illness with her usual aplomb. My parents were terrified at the time and didn’t say much about her condition. I remember my father telling me the morning after her surgery that she would be fine,...
Smiling Snooks
During my dad’s career, he wrote many columns about our neighborhood pets. Sometimes he claimed to be annoyed by these animals, but he was actually very fond of all of them. Especially Snooks. September 1955 I am beset these days by a smiling dog, and it is getting so...
In the Wild Blue
Since the exploit of Larry Walters, I have been looking on our lawn chairs in a different way. Walters is the 33-year-old North Hollywood truck driver who went for an aerial journey two months ago from San Pedro seated in a lawn chair. He was able to rise to a height...
Deborah Holt Larkin Reporting
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Gallery
Elizabeth Duncan with her defense attorney, Ward Sullivan
Frank and Elizabeth Duncan
Mrs. Duncan and son Frank pose for photos on the first day of her trial
Olga Duncan
Luis Moya
Augustine Baldonado
Bob Holt with daughter Betsey on the left and daughter Debby on the right
Bob Holt’s photo appeared above his Bob Holt Reporting weekly column
Santa Barbara Detective Charlie Thompson (in light colored suit) receiving a Top Shooter award in 1958.
