The Black Dahlia

The first book in the classic L.A. Quartet crime series

Format:

Buy the book from:

Amazon Blackwells Bookshop.org Foyles Hive TGJones Waterstones

'The king of macho noir' GUARDIAN
'The American Dostoevsky' JOYCE CAROL OATES
'One of the great American writers of our time' LOS ANGELES TIMES
'Fierce, brave, funny, scatological, beautiful, convoluted and paranoid' STEPHEN KING
'One of the most original and daring writers alive' INDEPENDENT

Los Angeles, 15th January 1947. A beautiful young woman walks into the night and meets a horrific destiny.

Five days later, her tortured body is found drained of blood and cut in half. The newspapers call her 'The Black Dahlia'. For two cops, what begins as an investigation becomes a hellish journey that takes them to the core of the dead girl's twisted life.

About the series

Four of James Ellroy's most popular crime novels featuring the infamous Dudley Smith, which include: 'The Black Dahlia', 'The Big Nowhere', 'L.A. Confidential' and 'White Jazz'.

Learn more

A mesmerising study of the psycho-sexual obsession . . . extraordinarily well written
The Times

About James Ellroy

JAMES ELLROY was born in Los Angeles. He is the author of the Underworld U.S.A. Trilogy: American Tabloid, The Cold Six Thousand, and Blood’s A Rover; and the L.A. Quartet novels: The Black Dahlia, The Big Nowhere, L.A. Confidential, and White Jazz. He is also the author of two other Freddy Otash novels, Widespread Panic and The Enchanters. He was awarded the 2022 Los Angeles Times Robert Kirsch Award for lifetime achievement. He lives in Colorado.

Learn more

Details