Helpful Score: 2
From Publishers Weekly
Based on a notorious, unsolved Los Angeles murder case, the central drama of this hard-boiled mystery--set in the late 1940s--begins when the body of Elizabeth Short, an engagingly beautiful and promiscuous woman in her 20s, is discovered in a vacant lot, cut in half, disemboweled and bearing evidence that she had been tortured for several days before dying. Dubbed "The Black Dahlia" by the press, the victim becomes an obsession for two L.A.P.D. cops, narrator Bucky Bleichert and his partner, Lee Blanchard, both ex-boxers who also are best friends and in love with the same woman. Despite a huge effort by the department, leads seem to go nowhere, and Bucky is mortified when he inadvertently helps to suppress evidence--the apparently innocuous fact that a woman he spends many nights with, casually bisexual Madeleine Sprague, daughter of a crooked real-estate tycoon, knew "the Dahlia" and slept with her once. Bucky begins to fear for his future, but slowly and dangerously, he learns that his is one of the tamest crimes of corruption committed by the many people he knows. Building like a symphony, this is a wonderful, complicated but accessible tale of ambition, insanity, passion and deceit, with the perfect settingof booming, postwar Los Angeles.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Based on a notorious, unsolved Los Angeles murder case, the central drama of this hard-boiled mystery--set in the late 1940s--begins when the body of Elizabeth Short, an engagingly beautiful and promiscuous woman in her 20s, is discovered in a vacant lot, cut in half, disemboweled and bearing evidence that she had been tortured for several days before dying. Dubbed "The Black Dahlia" by the press, the victim becomes an obsession for two L.A.P.D. cops, narrator Bucky Bleichert and his partner, Lee Blanchard, both ex-boxers who also are best friends and in love with the same woman. Despite a huge effort by the department, leads seem to go nowhere, and Bucky is mortified when he inadvertently helps to suppress evidence--the apparently innocuous fact that a woman he spends many nights with, casually bisexual Madeleine Sprague, daughter of a crooked real-estate tycoon, knew "the Dahlia" and slept with her once. Bucky begins to fear for his future, but slowly and dangerously, he learns that his is one of the tamest crimes of corruption committed by the many people he knows. Building like a symphony, this is a wonderful, complicated but accessible tale of ambition, insanity, passion and deceit, with the perfect settingof booming, postwar Los Angeles.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Helpful Score: 1
A masterpiece.....Literary eqivalent of film noir. Gritty 1940's
detective story in Los Angeles. A page turner and a half.
detective story in Los Angeles. A page turner and a half.
Helpful Score: 1
Great story~ as always better than the movie
If you love Film Noir this book has it all
If you love Film Noir this book has it all
The Black Dahlia was a very good read but parts were gory and horrific. The first part was hard to get into without having knowledge of boxing terms. Also, later in the book a lot of police lingo and codes were thrown around, with meanings that needed to be explained. It was a great book overall and inspiration to pursue the truth.
Just could not get into this book!!!!!!!!!
Mystery with true insurps and pictures of Dahlia history. Good read.
On January 15, 1947, the tortured-ravished body of a beautiful young woman is found in Los Angeles vacant lot. The victim makes headlines as the Black Dahlia - and so begins the greatest manhunt in California history.
Caught up in the investigation are Bucky Bleichert and Lee Blanchard, Warrants Squad cops, friends, and rivals in love with the same woman. But both are obsessed with the Dahlia - driven by dark needs to know everything about her past, to capture her killer, to possess the woman even in death. Their quest will take them on a hellish journey through the underbelly of postwar Hollywood, to the core of the dead's girls twisted life, past the extremes of their own psyches - into a region of total madness.
Caught up in the investigation are Bucky Bleichert and Lee Blanchard, Warrants Squad cops, friends, and rivals in love with the same woman. But both are obsessed with the Dahlia - driven by dark needs to know everything about her past, to capture her killer, to possess the woman even in death. Their quest will take them on a hellish journey through the underbelly of postwar Hollywood, to the core of the dead's girls twisted life, past the extremes of their own psyches - into a region of total madness.
This book is about a true murder investigation that took place in 1947 and was never solved. James Ellroy fictionalized the story and it is very interesting and compelling. One of those" I can't wait to get to the end of the book" novels.
This is an autographed copy!
