Brown's Requiem

By: James Ellroy

Narrated by: R. C. Bray

Fritz Brown’s L.A. - and his life - are masses of contradictions, like stirring chorales sung for the dead. A less-than-spotless former cop with a drinking problem - a private-eye-cum-repo man with a taste for great music - he has been known to wallow in the grime beneath the Hollywood glitter. But Fritz Brown’s life is about to change, thanks to the appearance of a racist psycho who flashes too much cash for a golf caddie and who walked away clean from a multiple murder rap.

Reopening this case could be Fritz’s redemption; his welcome back to a moral world and his path to a pure and perfect love. But to get there, he must make it through a grim, lightless place where evil has no national borders; where lies beget lies and death begets death; where there’s little tolerance for Bach or Beethoven and deadly arson is a lesser mortal sin; and where a PI’s unhealthy interest in the past can turn beautiful music into a funeral dirge.

©1981 James Ellroy (P)2012 HighBridge Company

Critic reviews

“Crime, corruption, and obsessive sex...the most acclaimed noir writer of the past 20 years.” ( Mystery News)

“Hard-bitten...ingenious.... Ellroy segues into political intrigue without missing a beat.” (The New York Times)

it's ok

I struggled to keep interest, the characters never really flushed out and it seemed like I was listening to someone tell a story they heard once . Bray was good, fluid transitions and defined voice changes on the separated characters. it just seemed to lack something in the story. I just can't put my finger on it.

Okay but not great

A bit convoluted. Characters were never truly developed and story jumped around. Narrator was fine

I had a hard time turning it off.

I can't say that I've ever read anything by James Ellroy I didn't like. The narrator made it even better.