My Dark Places

(Paperback)

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America's greatest crime writer investigates his mother's murder America's greatest crime writer investigates his mother's murder. On 21 June 1958, Geneva Hilliker Ellroy left her home in California. She was found strangled the next day. Her ten year-old son James had been with her estranged husband all weekend and was informed of her death on his return. Her murderer was never found, but her death had an enduring effect on her son - he spent his teens and early adult years as a wino, petty burglar and derelict. Only later, through his obsession with crime fiction, triggered by his mother's murder, did Ellroy begin to delve into his past. Shortly after the publication of his groundbreaking novel WHITE JAZZ, he determined to return to Los Angeles and, with the help of veteran detective Bill Stoner, attempt to solve the 38-year-old killing. The result is one of the few classics of crime non-fiction and autobiography to appear in the last few decades; a hypnotic trip to America's underbelly and one man's tortured soul.

Reviews

"The outstanding American crime writer of his generation" Independent "A gripping and quite awesome form of literature" Express "Stunning...extraordinary" Observer "A tour de force of confessional writing" TLS "Ellroy proves that he is more than just a crime writer, he is one of the best and most important writers in America today" VOX

Author Bio

James Ellroy was born in Los Angeles in 1948. He is the author of the acclaimed 'LA Quartet'- The Black Dahlia, The Big Nowhere, LA Confidential and White Jazz. His most recent novel, Blood's a Rover, completes the magisterial 'Underworld USA Trilogy' - the first two volumes of which (American Tabloid and The Cold Six Thousand) were both Sunday Times bestsellers.