The Black Dahlia (Paperback)

Los Angeles, 1947: The mutilated body of a beautiful young woman -- dubbed the Black Dahlia by the press -- is found, spawning the greatest manhunt in California history. Warrants Squad cops Buckeye Bleacher and Lee Blanched are on the case, and soon become obsessed with the victim. They are driven to learn everything about her, and find that their pursuit of her killer and her twisted past lead them on a hellish tour of post-war Hollywood and into a region of total madness.

"Brutal and at the same time believable". -- The New York Times

"Turgid with passion, violence, and frustration...imaginative and bizarre". -- Los Angeles Times

"Fine attention to detail and a dead-on sense of the period...Ellroy has established himself as one of the finest practitioners of noir fiction". -- Cleveland Plain Dealer