Based on the still-unsolved real-life Black Dahlia homicide in 1947 Los Angeles, James Ellroy weaves fictional characters and events into the mix to create an unforgettable story.




LAPD Warrants squad cops Dwight "Bucky" Bleichert and Lee Blanchard get caught up in the Elizabeth Short (aka The Black Dahlia) investigation. Bucky and Lee become the best of friends, then the best of rivals in love with the same woman.




Their quest to find Elizabeth Short's murderer will take them through hell, with no end in sight.

...Ellroy's incomparable ability to tell a police procedural and an entertaining story at the same time.

...take a shot of whiskey to calm my jangled nerves. I was white-knuckled throughout.

...exhausted, and then excited. It's good to know we still have writers who can achieve works such as this.

...crosses all political, racial, gender and dispositional lines to offend as many people as possible. He's great.

...it is an example of how to write the perfect detective novel.

It seems readers either love or hate this book, with no middle ground. The fact that it generates such emotional debates is a credit to the book, in its own way.




I thought Ellroy's ability to wrap me up in the lives of these all-too-human characters was incredible. Each one had despicable characteristics in their nature, and I still loved them. Lee with his police face at work and nervous ticks at home, Kay with her artsy vogue hiding white trashiness, and Bucky's mostly-good looks coupled with goofy self-serving actions. The story was brutally honest about humanity, and I've discovered that most people who have a problem with this have a problem with themselves, as well.




Ellroy's prose glances from poetry to cop-talk, hip talk of the day to universal axioms, and the canvass of post-war LA is fearfully and wonderfully painted on.




My response to the abject hatred of this book is that if you want a mystery that goes from step A to B to C ad infinitum, this story isn't for you. Go back to Agatha and Mystery! on PBS (no blatant disrespect to them, but old ladies and French detectives with funny maustaches cracking cases are not always my cup of tea... no pun intended).




If the vulgarity offends you, then look in the mirror: you are drawn from the same pool of that human vulgarity, like it or not. Far from being nihilistic (as it is often accused of being), the book ends (without spoiling it) on one of the highest notes of human goodness.




Long story story short, it is one of the roughest-edged crime novels written this century, showing the underbelly of this world with fictional elements inserted into reality. By the way, if you are a Black Dahlia Murder purist, this book isn't for you, either (but when critiquing, please stick to the facts of the case and don't compare your conclusions with Ellroy's fiction... he never once stated this was a microscopic play-by-play of the actual case).




If you think the novel is chauvinistic, misogynistic and racist, congratulations! You are beginning to grasp the mentality of America during this time. Ellroy refused to shy away from the blatant sexism and racism that defined law enforcement, as well as everyday life. Quite frankly, I deplore those who write about this era and soft-pedal these subjects, making their characters the only non-evildoers in society. Ellroy's stories are far from "whitey triumphant" in theme, being quite the opposite when he shows that there is no human, group or race beyond reproach.




For first time readers of noir, this one will spoil you, but I can't think of a better way to pop your cherry.




A final word of advice: Hang on, because this coaster is wicked.

Interested in buying this? Support Writing.Com by making your purchase of The Black Dahlia   from Amazon.Com!

Created Jan 29, 2002 at 10:39pm • Submit your own review...