James Ellroy - 1948
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San Pedro High School in San Pedro, California
Read other essays on James Ellroy written by California students Courtney King and Eric Carpenter. I. Biography James Ellroy was born in Los Angeles, California, on March 4, 1948. He grew up on the streets of Los Angeles. At the age of
four, his parents divorced. Six years later, his mother was strangled to death. He spent the weekend at his father's, and upon returning, he was told that his mother was dead. After the news, he took to the
streets. He was expelled from high school due to excessive truancies. Later on in his life, he was dishonorably discharged from the military because he faked a nervous breakdown.
He turned to miscellaneous crimes and petty theft in order to support his drinking problem. From 1965 to 1977, he was arrested approximately 30 times for drunkenness, shoplifting,
and trespassing. Out of those 30 times, he was only convicted for 12 of his crimes and spent a total of 8 months in jail. His life turned around in the year of 1977. He was struck
with a case of double pneumonia, and was admitted to a hospital. He came close to death, and didn't like it. He entered an Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) group, and managed to stop
drinking. His professional life began when a friend, through AA, was able to get him a job as a caddy at Hollywood golf courses.
Ellroy spent much of his young life reading mystery novels that he stole from drug stores. He also drank in public libraries while scourging through twentieth-century literature.
Before he was hospitalized, he decided that he wanted to pursue a writing career. The hundreds of crime novels he read helped to fuel his imagination for his books to follow. In
1979, While still caddying, he worked on and finished his first novel, Brown's Requiem. An agent took his novel, and gave it to the publishers at Avon. His second novel, still produced while a caddy, was titled
Clandestine. This was only the beginning of a very long writing career. II. Literary Works The Black Dahlia is about two LAPD detectives who are hooked on finding the murderer
of Elizabeth Short. Elizabeth Short, also known as the Black Dahlia, was brutally murdered in the hills of Hollywood. The twists and turns within the story almost mask the real
objective of detective's Bleichert and Blanchard. Her death is a mystery until the final climax when an unpredictable showdown erupts inside of an abandoned house. Even the
final result does not justify what has been done through out the story. The need for answers to "how" and "why" and "what if" keep the reader in a page turning frenzy. Crime Wave
is a collection of previously published non-fiction articles. It is also the most recent of his novels. My Dark Places is a non-fiction journey through his mother's murder and all that
accompanied it. When he was a child, his mother was murdered. He writes about the effects that it had on him as a child, teenager and an adult. White Jazz
is about a Los Angeles detective who plays both sides of the law. The mob wants him to kill a federal witness, and the District Attorney wants him to turn in an underground boss. The Big Nowhere
takes place in Los Angeles in the 1950's during the communist witch-hunt. Two Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers and a pimp are drawn into a series of brutal homosexual slayings. Suicide Hill
portrays an LAPD sergeant who is put on a string of cleverly thought out bank robberies. He ends up finding out more about his own department than he wants to know.
III. Los Angeles, California and James Ellroy James Ellroy grew up in Los Angeles, and wrote Los Angeles based novels. Incorporated
in the novels are true locations. The listed places are real sites that can be found in Los Angeles and Hollywood as referred to in The Black Dahlia. Central Division -
A police station located in Downtown Los Angeles. Olympic and the Academy Gyms - The gyms where Bucky and Lee fought and trained.
These gyms are still both very popular for policemen. A popular local fighting ring is still in full swing. Many young fighters work out, train and fight there in hopes that an agent
will discover their amazing boxing abilities. City Hall -This building is a twenty-six-story building that stands 454 feet tall. It has a
distinctive white tower that was the only exception to the 150-foot height limit in the city. This is just one of the buildings that makes up the Civic Center. Culver City
- Kay Lake takes refuge here during Bobby De Witt's trial. Camp MacArthur - Now known as Fort MacArthur, it is a military base named after General
Douglas MacArthur. It is not as active now as it was in the forties, but it still has active members of the armed forces living on it. IV. Literary Works Brown's Requiem (1981) V. Sources Ellroy, James. The Black Dahlia. New York, NY. Mysterious Press, 1987.
Clandestine (1982)
Blood on the Moon (1984)
Because of the Night (1984)
Killer on the Road (1986)
Suicide Hill (1986)
Silent Terror (1986)
The Black Dahlia (1987)
The Big Nowhere (1988)
LA Confidential (1990)
White Jazz (1992)
My Dark Places (1996)
Crime Wave (1999)
Bestsellers 90, Issue 4, Gale, 1990. Armchair Detective
, spring, 1987, p. 206; winter, 1991, p. 31. New Statesman, June 19, 1987, p. 31; January 22, 1988, p.33. Observer, May 13, 1984, p. 23. Contemporary Authors
Volume 138, 1993, pp. 143-145s This essay was submitted by a student of Grant Farley, a teacher at San Pedro High School in San Pedro, California.
Twentieth-Century Crime and Mystery Writers, Third edition, St. James Press, 1991, pp.347-348.
Christian Science Monitor, October 2, 1987, p. B5
Los Angeles Times, October 4, 1987; May 27, 1990.
Los Angeles Times Book Review
, June 3, 1984, p. 18; September 13, 1987, p. 16. October 9, 1988, p. 12; July 8, 1990, p. 8.
New York Times Book Review
, July 22, 1984, p. 32; July 6, 1986, p. 21; November 8, 1987, p. 62; October 9, 1988, p. 41; September 3, 1989, p. 20; July 15, 1990, p. 26; June 30, 1991, p. 32.
People
, December 14, 1987; July 2, 1990.
Publishers Weekly, June 15, 1990, pp. 53-54.
Spector, July 21, 1984, p. 29.
Tribune Books (Chicago), September 3, 1989, p.5; June 10, 1990, p.1.
Washington Post Book World, October 23, 1988, p.10.
West Coast Review of Books, January 1983, p. 43; September 1983, p. 20; September, 1986, p. 27.
The World Book Encyclopedia Volume L, 1993, p.461.