"One of the strengths of this true-crime anthology series comes simply from its astonishing variety . . . it would be tough to better this collection." — BooklistThe 2005 edition of The Best American Crime Writing offers the year's most shocking, compelling, and gripping writing about real-life crime, including Peter Landesman's article about female sex slaves (the most requested and widely read New York Times story of 2004), a piece from ...

A remarkable portrait of "true L.A. noir" with archival photos from the Los Angeles Police Museum and text by legendary crime writer James Ellroy ( Los Angeles Times).James Ellroy, the undisputed master of crime writing, has teamed up with the Los Angeles Police Museum to present a stunning text on 1953 L.A. While combing the museum's photo archives, Ellroy discovered that the year featured a wide array of stark and unusual imagery—and to accompany the pic...

Following his remarkable fiction debut, Rope Burns, author F. X. Toole's Pound for Pound is a big, brawny novel of honor, perseverance, family, and forgiveness, set in towns where violence is the norm and success stories take on an almost mythic importance. It is the story of Dan Cooley, an aging, legendary Los Angeles trainer, who takes on Chicky Garza, a troubled young fighter hungry for glory in the notoriously corrupt San Antonio boxing circuit. Written in the masterf...

This "impressive crime anthology" presents a century of American greed, crime and comeuppance by some of the genre's greatest authors ( Publishers Weekly, starred review).James Ellroy, the author of such noir classics as The Black Dahlia and L.A. Confidential, joins forces with award-winning editor Otto Penzler to present this treasure trove of stories. Ranging from the 1920s to the present day, this collection represents noir at its best...

James Ellroy's deep dive into the psyche of a serial killer who recounts his life in the shadows, a tale of American madness and obsession."The scariest book I've ever read." —Jason KellermanEven as a child, Martin Michael Plunkett was no ordinary boy. Extreme parental indifference marked him as an outcast. In his head, Plunkett crafted a second life, remaking himself in the guise of his favorite comic book villain. His mind fixated on dark thought...

From bestselling author James Ellroy ('The neo-noir eminence of L.A. crime fiction' The New Yorker) a gritty, fast-paced historical crime thriller set in 1962 Los Angeles during the aftermath of the Cuban Missile Crisis.'A mesmerising crime thriller full of corruption, cynicism and sleaze' FINANCIAL TIMES‘Fierce, brave, funny, scatological, beautiful, convoluted, and paranoid’ STEPHEN KING‘The American Dostoy...

A novel in The L.A. Quartet. Murder, mayhem and dirty cops on the make against the backdrop of anti-communist hysteria in L.A. in 1950.It’s Los Angeles in the new year of 1950. The Communist Scare is heating up. Gangsters vie for control of the town. The Hollywood studios are feuding with the unions. Then a dead body with its eyes gouged out turns up.The investigating officer, Sheriff’s deputy Danny Upshaw, is obsessed with the murder case that no one else ...

**From bestselling, award-winning author James Ellroy, "the neo-noir eminence of L.A. crime fiction" (The New Yorker)—a gritty, fast-paced historical crime thriller set in 1962 Los Angeles during the aftermath of the Cuban Missile Crisis"The Freddy Otash novels will be mentioned . . . as some of Ellroy's best work.” —NPR**It’s late October 1962. The Cuban Missile Crisis has just concluded. The Russkies blinked and pulled their ICBMs out of Cuba. Attorney G...

Three detectives descend into the underbelly of Los Angeles, where all the classic elements of an Ellroy novel—police corruption, Hollywood scandal, and organized crime—collide in this bestselling installment in the L.A. Quartet.Christmas 1951, Los Angeles: a city where the police are as corrupt as the criminals.Six prisoners are beaten senseless in their cells by cops crazed on alcohol. Three LAPD detectives get involved. Ed Exley wants to eclipse his poli...

Three of Ellroy's most compelling novels featuring Detective Sergeant Lloyd Hopkins in one volume. Blood On The Moon: 20 random killings of women are unconnected in police files. But Det. Sgt. Lloyd Hopkins sees a pattern. As he is drawn to the murderer, the two men face a confrontation pitting icy intelligence against white-heated madness. . . Because The Night: Jacob Herzog, hero cop, has disappeared. A multiple murder committed with a pre-Civil War revolver remains uns...

'Nobody does crime like James Ellroy . . . One of Ellroy's best works in years' Sunday Times'This is the master of darkness at his incomparable best — simply impossible to put down'Daily MailLos Angeles. August 4, 1962. The city broils through a mid-summer heat wave. Marilyn Monroe ODs. A B-movie starlet is kidnapped. The overhyped LAPD overreacts. Chief Bill Parker's looking for some getback. The Monroe deal looks like a ...

A scintillating novel of sex and murder in 50s LA ...Los Angeles 1951 – Frederick Underhill, an ambitious rookie of the Los Angeles Police Department, want to become the most celebrated detective of his time. He is also sexually promiscuous. His two drives are brought together by the slaying of Maggie Cadwallader, a lonely woman whom Underhill slept with shortly before her death.Using his inside knowledge, Underhill gets himself on the case, which is being h...