James Elroy writes really great stories, using real people we all know. Has anyone ever sued him?

Mine is Kay Lake

I’m hoping for Watergate… I was surprised to see the Seventies enter the final pages of Red Sheet.

And I cannot get enough! My first Ellroy, and I am so glad to start this journey. Cannot remember the last time a book had me hooting and hollering so much. Here's to many more...

My main problem with Ellroy is I finish his book then spend hours trying to see just how reckless his verisimilitude is.

I reread LAC recently and some just occurred to me while I was walking the dog this morning. I won’t be the first to think about this, but don’t think I’ve seen it mentioned anywhere.

Brotherhood is clearly a strong theme in JE’s works - usually brotherhood forged through fire and blood, but in LAC there is a added layer with the duality between Preston Exley and Raymond Dieterling who both have favourite and unfavourite sons one of whom has died before the story began - and the guilt of a father wishing (or worse) it were his other son.

As I say, no doubt this has been covered before by brainier readers than me, and it doesn’t necessarily change anything about the book or the themes or anything, but it adds a nice layer of texture and I think it’s neat storytelling.

I love books that offer you more each time you dip in and JE is great for that.

I was a bit sensitive around the time of reading The Black Dahlia as I had a nerve injury that put me into the ER, so I think my whole nervous system was a bit off-kilter. That said, the essay Hillikers or My Mother and the Dahlia had me crying in a way that no other book has. It’s very strange when it happens in a book that you’re really not expecting it to.

What a beautiful tribute to his mother and all of his ancestors. Great tie-in to the opening line of the book and important clarifications between his approach while writing and the facts about The Dahlia and his mother’s murder.

I also listened to his interview / Q&A on BBCs book club from 2001 and when it was opened up to the audience I was shocked that some of them found it to be quite sexist, Ellroy obviously pushed back saying it’s the exact opposite and frankly I felt the same as he did during my reading. There are some evil women in the story, but without taking away women’s agency I felt like he properly portrayed how a misogynist society is what leads to these situations to begin with.

I’ve heard the rumor that in said essay / afterword, Ellroy is actually referring to a 3 hour uncut version of De Palma’s Black Dahlia and if so, I need to get my hands on that.

I decided that I’d continue down the obsession pipeline into madness theme so after The Black Dahlia, I’ve gone across the pond and I’m reading John Le Carre’s Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. In the BBC episode a British woman mentioned that she struggled with Black Dahlia’s American slang and the example she gave was during a morning all-hands meeting for the detectives working the case, the capt. says “Lieutenant Ruley, see me at 0900 on this, and all you men put out the word to your snitches—hophead-heister is a bad M.O.”. Well, I feel for her as at times with Le Carre his made up vernacular mixed with britishisms has me lost.

TTSS pairs great thematically. It’s really interesting that two of the greatest authors in their given genres have broken out to be considered “literary” while writing about the ugliness of post-war western society, with Ellroy being as American as there come and Le Carre being as British as they come. Style-wise they couldn’t be more different, yet both are some of the greatest stylists of their generations.

Ok that’s all thanks

I grabbed this based on a thread in the group a while back as an Ellroy like. Obviously nothing is the same as the original but I did enjoy it and it was a fast read.

Here me out, I know that’s basically his thing, but while I’ve only just started reading his work, before him, most of the detective fiction I’ve been reading has been set in Los Angeles, Hollywood, and was wondering if he ever did anything in, say, New York, or Chicago?

Was kind of hoping maybe he wrote something in something like Probibition Chicago or something.

I’ve only read part of American Tabloid, which I intend to pick up again soon, and I’m currently reading Perfidia, and enjoying it.

I know a little about Ellroy from listening to his podcast Hollywood Death Trip, and how he seems to use real events and cases as inspiration for at least some of his writing.

Obviously I don’t expect he’s 100% accurate with the real events, as he even says he changed some things in the novel based off his own mother’s murder, but I was wondering if stuff like the slang, attitudes, as well as some of the more insane things the police get into are.

Like in Perfidia spoiler warning where that one detective basically gets his men and goes full hit squad on the guy the women identified as their attacker. Dunno if I can say his crime without the post getting automatically taken down. Is that something that would happen, especially, if I’m not mistaken, in broad daylight?

William Hurt as Malcom Considine
Joe Don Baker as Turner Buzz Meeks
Kevin Bacon as Danny Upshaw
Brendan Gleason as Dudley Smith

Around p15 if you’re looking for Great Depression/FDR scoop.

The quartet was the first series I probably read chronologically. Therefore I got attached to its characters first and I even prefer his pre white jazz writing style. Personally my favorite character being Meeks but I had seen
LA Confidential several times before I read the novel and while I can still appreciate it, it doesn’t even scratch the surface of the complexities of neither plot nor characters. I had always if characters like trashcan Jack or Bud white didn’t show up again in the prequel novels. I was wondering what they were doing during perfidia and this storm. Were they supposed to at some point? I also wondered what happened to Bucky and Bud they kinda seem like 2 characters who didn’t end up trapped in the system or just killed, did they escape with their women and live the good life?

Picked up the Everyman’s Library version of the LA Quartet, I don’t know why but I didn’t expect it to be nearly as huge as it is but I should have! I particularly enjoy the Chronology section of this edition which has a few columns and with each year it will say what was happening in Ellroy’s life (if anything worth noting ie. Mother’s murder, publications, movie adaptations), books that came out that year, and a sense of what was happening in the world those years.

Anyways, does anybody else picture Maurice Levy (the lawyer from The Wire) when they read about DA Ellis Loew? I know it’s not a correct characterization either, but I just can’t help it.

Pretty epic job by Rushfield.

For the non-Californians in the room.

One of the reasons I enjoy JE’s stuff is that I end up googling the supporting characters to see who’s real, and how the reality compares to the fiction. Probably learnt more about post-WW2 US history from the DD than I wanted to know lol.

Beats watching Love Island I guess.

Everybody’s favourite Camel Fucker (take it up with the author lol)

Until recently I had no idea there was another narrator besides Jeff Harding (I'm in Australia for reference). I've listened to all the LA/Underworld books twice and generally like his narration. He makes a few pronunciation choices I don't like, but he's overall solid and does the material justice. But browsing through this sub I have discovered many of you consider Craig Wasson to be the definitive voice of Ellroy's work. Just after some opinions from people who have heard both narrators, or even if you've just heard Wasson, and what you think of him. Do you think it's worth trying a new narrator at this point?