James Ellroy

James Ellroy (born Lee Earle Ellroy on March 4, 1948 in Los Angeles, California) is one of the world's best-selling crime writers and essayists with a unique "telegraphic" writing style, which omits words other writers would consider necessary. His books are noted for their dark humor and depiction of American authoritarianism. Other hallmarks of his work include dense plotting and a relentlessly pessimistic worldview. Ellroy has sometimes been called the "Demon Dog of American crime fiction".

Related Topics:
March 4 - 1948 - Los Angeles, California - Crime writer - Essayist - Authoritarianism

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In 1958, his mother, Geneva, was murdered in El Monte, where she and Ellroy moved three years after her divorce from his father, Armand. The unsolved killing, and a birthday present from his father a few months later, The Badge by Jack Webb, about the Los Angeles Police Department were pivotal moments in his life as portrayed in My Dark Places.

Related Topics:
1958 - El Monte - The Badge - Jack Webb - Los Angeles Police Department - My Dark Places

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He writes longhand on legal pads, rather than on a computer, and prepares elaborate outlines for his books that are several hundred pages long. In connection with The Cold Six Thousand Ellroy has said that he is through with "genre fiction" and plans to write mainstream novels.

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Ellroy lives in Carmel. He is currently working on the final (and reportedly largest) volume of his Underworld USA trilogy of novels, which began with American Tabloid and The Cold Six Thousand.

Related Topics:
Carmel - American Tabloid - The Cold Six Thousand

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