Explore the chilling cold case linked to the iconic Circus of Books. A documentary delving into murder, the AIDS crisis, and a community's hidden history.
- March 30, 2026
AceShowbiz - My Brother's Killer is a documentary that serves as an unofficial follow-up to Rachel Mason’s 2019 film Circus of Books. While Mason’s earlier work explored her parents Barry Mason and Karen Mason’s unique bookshop at the heart of West Hollywood’s gay scene, this new film shifts focus to an unsolved murder connected to that era.
The documentary begins with Mason inquiring about a cold case involving Billy London, also known as William Arnold Newton, a 25-year-old patron of the Mason family’s store and occasional porn actor. In the days leading up to Halloween 1990, London disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Shortly after, his severed head and feet were discovered in a dumpster near La Brea and Santa Monica Boulevard, but the rest of his body was never recovered.
My Brother's Killer revisits this crime and also reflects on the broader social and cultural context of the time, including the impact of the 1980s AIDS crisis and the FBI’s obscenity investigations under Ronald Reagan, which had previously targeted Mason’s father, Barry Mason. The documentary examines a violent mystery intertwined with a moment in L.A.'s LGBTQ+ history.
By connecting personal family history with an unresolved tragedy, My Brother's Killer provides a cinematic narrative to a story that has lingered for decades.
