Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy? Kitty Kelley, Part I

She is notorious, glamorous, maligned and hugely successful. A controversial literary icon, she is simultaneously a beloved Georgetown neighbor who can be counted on to support neighborhood causes. Needy causes.

On a windswept, chilly afternoon, we assemble outside Kitty Kelley's gated Georgetown office in anticipation of discussing "Oprah," her latest unauthorized work.

Kelley has faced a brown-out of establishment press types, many of the dutiful flock, fearful of promoting a book that may attract career-damaging repercussions from the Empire of O. Oprah is media. Kitty Kelley -- Spokane Catholic school girl, oldest of seven children, "unauthorized" journalist who worked at the elbow of Sen. Eugene McCarthy as he took a principled stand against the Vietnam War -- is unafraid to take on the most holy of America's sacred cows.

She has painstakingly combed the lives of iconic political personae from Jackie Kennedy to George W. Bush. Throw in Nancy Reagan, Frank Sinatra, and the House of Windsor for good measure. That respectable record doesn't seem to quell the controversy surrounding the author herself.

Who is Kitty Kelley? Do her books warrant the criticism -- and/or the sales? The Georgetown Dish investigates....

Best-Selling Biographer Kitty Kelley from Texas Monthly Talks on Vimeo.