YOURS CRUELLY, ELVIRA

A memoir by Cassandra Peterson who is best known (and loved around the world) for playing Elvira, the spooky, sexy "Mistress of the Night." Like her friend and fellow Groundlings alumni Paul Reubens (Pee Wee Herman), Cassandra has built an iconic international brand by creating and inhabiting a fictional character, but her own story is just as fascinating, hilarious and compelling.

Elvira has emerged as one of the most original and outrageous characters in popular culture today. But Cassandra's road to success was far from smooth. From her childhood on a Kansas farm, to her years as a Vegas showgirl, she takes us along on her journey of transformation into the pop culture icon known as the Mistress of the Dark. Peterson describes her romantic rendezvous with two of Hollywood's biggest stars, a horrific sexual assault by a world-famous athlete, and covers her time surviving on the streets of Paris, Rome, Miami and New York, to living in a tree in Hollywood.

With extraordinary humor and intimacy, Cassandra recounts starting her career over, leading Elvira to a resurgence in popularity, forming a shockingly surprising new romantic relationship and encountering an unexpected revelation about her beloved child. Loaded with twisty-turn surprises, travails, revelry, and downright shocking experiences, Cassandra's story - before and after Elvira - is one of unexpected bombshells told by the bombshell herself.

Cassandra Peterson (born September 17, 1951) is an American actress, writer and singer. She is best known for her portrayal of the horror hostess character Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. Peterson gained fame on Los Angeles television station KHJ-TV wearing a revealing, black, gothic, cleavage-enhancing gown as host of Elvira's Movie Macabre, a weekly B movie presentation.