The Black Dahlia

By: James Ellroy

Narrated by: Stephen Hoye

Length: 13 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's summary

On January 15, 1947, the tortured body of a beautiful young woman was found in a vacant lot in Hollywood. Elizabeth Short, the Black Dahlia, a young Hollywood hopeful, had been brutally murdered. Her murder sparked one of the greatest manhunts in California history.

In this fictionalized treatment of a real case, Bucky Bleichert and Lee Blanchard, both LA cops obsessed with the Black Dahlia, journey through the seamy underside of Hollywood to the core of the dead girl's twisted life.

©1987 James Ellroy (P)2006 Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Passionate, violent, frustrating...imaginative and bizarre." (Los Angeles Times)
"Ellroy's powerful rendering of the long-reaching effects of murder gives the case new meaning." (Library Journal)
"Building like a symphony, this is a wonderful, complicated but accessible tale of ambition, insanity, passion, and deceit, with the perfect setting of booming, postwar Los Angeles." (Publishers Weekly)

Great Read

Ellroy immerses you in postwar L.A. His writing is as close as one can get to a time machine. And, yes, his writing is about the characters' reacting to the Dahlia murders: good fiction -- even good crime fiction -- is always about character.

If only L.A. Confidential and The Big Sleep were available in unabridged versions. Ellroy simply can't be abridged/

Wow!

I haven't been able to stop listening to this book. Just when I thought it was over, it starts again. I felt like this story had 4 different endings, each played on the previous one. Great story and performance.

Real emotions & flaws, sensational story

Captures the tortured path a policeman makes as he chases a ghost and discovers his own demons and those of his seemingly upright "family" and fellow lawmen.

Amazing

This is one the best books I've ever read or listened to. Masterful writing and an amazing narrator who makes you believe the characters. Can't recommend enough.

Hooked for first 3/4, then it goes astray

the first 3/4 of the book was very engaging with great character development and story development. Then suddenly major characters vanish and other minor characters become overly complex and pivotal to the story. It felt like he wrote a book, and remembered a plot twist he forgot to include. So it was very disconnected to the story and felt crammed into the end.

Great naration

The book was very good, one of the better Audible listens in the two plus years that I've been a member. The narator deserves special mention: Without a doubt, the best naration of all the books I've listened to since joining Audible.

Now This Is Storytelling!

I couldn't put this story down. Great character development, fact-based fiction, action-packed plot. I want more! Yes, the language is corse, and at times offensive, but The Black Dahlia's protagonist and his fellow officers are people who spoke and thought that way.

Awesome

The book covers a lot more than the movie. I like the book ending. Great plot twists and finding out who was dirty and who was played.

Dark,gritty and riveting.

elroy's rating guess you right into the story. sometimes he can be excessively rough. but the story is rough so it fits. Recommend to anyone who is interested in the Black Dahlia murder.

The coldest of cold cases

The Black Dahlia is an amazing book, a flawless detective story that is sort of a piece of historical crime fiction, seeing as how The Black Dahlia is a real unsolved murder case. The book takes that case and spins it into a unique world of crime and a quest for hard fought justice. I would be lying if I said I completely understood every character and subplot but that’s besides the point. It’s a fantastic journey into the underbelly of LA way back when. Ellroy is the crime writer GOAT.