The Black Dahlia is a police novel on an epic scale; a classic period piece that provides a startling conclusion to America s most infamous unsolved murder mystery. Already hailed as a masterpiece, it establishes James Ellroy as this country s most powerful living writer of noir fiction.
On January 15, 1947, the torture-ravished body of a beautiful young woman is found in a vacant lot in Los Angeles. The victim makes headlines as the Black Dahlia, and her murder sparks the greatest manhunt in California history.
Caught up in the investigation are Bucky Bleichert and Lee Blanchard: Warrants Squad cops, friends, and adversaries in love with the same woman. But both are obsessed with the Dahlia driven by dark needs to know everything about her life, to capture her killer, to possess the woman even in death. Their quest will take them on a hellish journey through the underbelly of post-war Hollywood, to the core of the dead girl s twisted life, past the extremes of their own psyches into a region of total madness.
With the no-punches-held style that has become the trademark of a James Ellroy novel, this brilliant and savagely original author launches the reader on a roller-coaster ride through the violent world of the 40 s L.A. cop.
“And Liz was g* * *od. You want details, wait till I publish my memoirs. But I’ll tell you this. I’m pretty good at faking like I’m loving it, but Liz was great. She had this bee in her bonnet about k
Sally shook her head. “No, but if she did she’d be g* * *od.”
“Not a woman. Not a real one. A hooer. A h* * *ooer. ” The long syllable turned into a laugh; Johnny tried to clap his hands. One hand hit his chest; the other jerked at the end of its cuffed tether.
Chapter 24
FIRE AND ICE COPS KO NEGRO THUGS
SOUTHSIDE SHOOTOUT —COPS: 4, HOODLUMS: 0
FOUR HOPHEADS SLAIN BY BOXER —POLICEMEN IN BLOODY LA GUN BATTLE
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