It's the L.A. last 1940s, most men are self-interested and regressive (so nothing's change, I hear some of you think :D), most women have to latch on to a man to survive; gays and non-whites are treated and talked to no-better than animals; and as for the white criminals, most of them work with and/or pay off the cops! And the cops, they are often worse than the criminals. But when a blood-drained, heavily tortured and dismembered corpse of the often dressed in black party girl the 'Black Dahlia...

Excelente novela. Me gustó mucho todo el ambiente pugilístico y la relación entre los policías. La trama también es entretenida. Muy buena.

Excellent novel. I really liked the whole pugilistic atmosphere and the relationship between the cops. The plot is also entertaining. Very good.

So I think I am done for the moment with my little nasty obsessive foray into the world of Elizabeth (Bettie) Short and some of the (other, which is to mean besides me, now) men who were obsessed with her. Short, at 23, was found murdered and mutilated in a vacant lot in LA January 15, 1947, and it is still one of the most sensational murders in LA history, fueled by multiple accounts of the grisly details of her death, and speculation (which typically accompanies these kinds of stories) about t...

Elizabeth Short is found murdered and LAPD detectives Bucky Bleichert and Lee Blanchard catch the case. Can Bleichert and Blanchard bring in her killer before the case destroys them both?Some time around 2005, my local bookstore owner pushed this on me. At the time, the only detective books I'd read were The Maltese Falcon and a few Hard Case books. It took me a week to get through but it felt like spending a month in jail. The Black Dahlia was a game changer for me, a powerful book that made me...

Ah, the post-war years. America’s golden age when things were so much better than they are today. When no injustice ever occurred, and no one was unfairly treated. Every pay check was a fortune, every meal a banquet, and the worst crime was the odd rapscallion stealing a pie off a window sill. Or maybe sometimes the bisected body of a woman who had been brutally tortured would be left in an empty lot which would put a wildly corrupt police force in a frenzied media spotlight as the cops fruitles...

Well.As is true of many goodreads readers, I am a serial book hopper. NOT TODAY! I devoured this book like a starving woman!Today I discovered for myself- (not you guys! You probably discovered it many books ago!)a whole new genre and author- according to Wiki- neo crime noir. James Ellroy. Absolutely brilliant.This is based on a true and unsolved crime in the late 1940s in LA, in the time of the zoot suit troubles and disturbed young ex marines and soldiers home from the War. Every one wants to...

I hated this damn book.My friend Hulk-boy told me to read this author. I may punch him in the face.It starts with the boxing fight of two young police officers Bucky Bleichert and Lee Blanchard. They become known as Mr. Fire and Mr. Ice. The hotshot team that got the LA police dept a raise with their boxing match.They team together after the fight as partner's. Then a young woman's body is found. She has been cut in two and tossed out. Betty/Elizabeth Short's story will become ingrained into you...

Well,it ALWAYS takes me some time to sort out and gather blown-away pieces of my sensitive heart Mr.Ellroy has masterfully done for me. It makes me feel sardonic,but I LOVE this process and of course,this GREAT work.One thing that I like about this novel is the massive impact it has on me.The story hooks me up at the start,grabs me by the collar and drags me around violently through the whole story,and finally dumps me into the gutter(let me confirm this;I’m not an open masochist!) On this price...

Everyman's Library has just published a new hardback volume containing all four of the novels that comprise James Ellroy's first L.A. Quartet. Ellroy was at my local bookstore a few weeks ago promoting this book and his new novel, This Storm, which is the second novel in his new L. A. Quartet. With signed copies of both books in hand, it seemed like a good time to return to The Black Dahlia, the first novel in the original series.Set in booming and corrupt post-World War II Los Angeles, it takes...

I'm not big on this whole "going green" trend, but today I thought about one thing all book lovers can do to contribute to society: use your library card more often. You probably thought I had something clever to say. Sorry to disappoint but let me explain. My Analysis of The Black Dahlia:-324 pages in the book-67 pages until the plot begins to unfold-300 pages before the book becomes unputdownable, as I like to call itWhat does that leave us with?...approximately 67 pages of wasted paper and 23...