Author James Ellroy is not one to mince words.
“I’ve got enough crazy shit going on in my head to last me another 63 years,” says the modern master of hard-boiled crime fiction.
Related: What Is Hard-Boiled Crime Fiction?
With his outsize personality and distinctive prose style, Ellroy knows how to craft a killer crime tale. The Los Angeles scribe earned a cult following with his first novels, which included the Lloyd Hopkins trilogy of police novels, before finding widespread fame with 1987’s The Black Dahlia, and 1990’s L.A. Confidential. Both books were adapted for the silver screen and cemented Ellroy’s reputation as the maestro of gritty, pitch-black tales of sex, money, and murder.
Watch Ellroy discuss his work—which he says will leave you “reamed, steamed, and dry cleaned”—in the author video below.
Crack open James Ellroy's thrillers.
Featured photo: Alchetron
