Of Dolls and Murder explores a haunting collection of dollhouse crime scenes and our universal fascination with murder. From the iconic CSI television show to the Body Farm and criminally minded college students and a crime fighting granny, legendary filmmaker and true crime aficionado, John Waters narrates the tiny world of big-time murder.

Before forensics, DNA and CSI there was an unimaginable collection of miniature crime scenes knowns as the Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death. Created in the 1930s and 1940s by a crime-fighting grandmother, Frances Glessner Lee, to help police detective hone their investigative skills. Precise and hauntingly beautiful—her tiny dystopian world eloquently conveys the tragedy and intrigue of unexplained death.

Since 1921, Betty Crocker has successfully assured the nation that everything goes better with cake. But since she isn’t real and never was, why have generations of Americans been buying what she selling—both literally and figuratively? The answer lies somewhere steeped in myth, shrouded in mystery with a heavy helping of savvy marketing.

Inspired by Frances Glessner Lee;s collection of dollhouse crime scenes, Cynthia von Buhler recreates the story of her grandfather’s prohibition-era murder with a dollhouse replica of his speakeasy club and bakery. This documentary film goes inside Cynthia’s world of miniature murder and steps back in time through her off-Broadway immersive play. With these investigative techniques she attempts to unravel the curious mystery surrounding her grandfather’s death.