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Worse was to follow. Though Hammett's will makes it clear he wanted half his literary estate to go to his daughter Josephine, she did not inherit anything until 30-odd years after his death in 1961--and well after Hellman's in 1984. Hellman simply expropriated the money. Mellen's theory is that she considered it a posthumous payment on Hammett's part for not having loved her enough.
Despite Hellman's efforts, her reputation began to ravel in her lifetime, after she sued Mary McCarthy for calling her a liar on TV. Though the suit died with the antagonists, it gave publicity to the fabrications in Pentimento and Scoundrel Time. From the former comes the story Julia, which casts Hellman as a heroic anti-Nazi in World War II. Jane Fonda played Lillian in the movie (Vanessa Redgrave was Julia). None of the yarn was true, but the author stubbornly maintained its veracity.
There is much about Hellman to attack--her lies, her opportunism, her greed. She is big game for a biographer. But Hellman kept her friends--including lovers whom she treated capriciously--over decades, and almost anyone who comments on her speaks of her vitality and her energy. So Mellen's repeated harping on minor points gives her book a rancid quality. Hellman's ugliness, sexual vamping and minor instances of social cowardice are all pounced on and recounted. In her introduction Mellen says that at times, when confronted with a problem, she would ask herself, "What would Lily do?" One thing is certain: she would burn this book.