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)

An oddly compelling story

Filled with spooky noir nuances, outrageous storylines and complex characters, this is a don't miss book. That's not to say that it doesn't have it's flaws. There are some plot points that make very little sense, and some of the story is downright gory. However, as a whole, it makes for great listening, full of old Hollywood lore and 40's detective lingo.
I purchased and downloaded this well before the film release, fully intending to have it listened to before I saw the movie. I'm actually glad that I didn't read the book before the movie, because while the movie stands on it's own as entertainment, it is nothing next to the book. It's lengthy and requires your full attention, but I think you will find it's worth it.

Slow to get into, but still fantastic.

Brilliant performance. Thoroughly enjoyed the afterword. Loved the historic setting of Los Angeles in the forties. Some very good twist and turns. Highly recommend.

Not a good listen

The book was ruined by the audio. Not sure if it was the performance or it just being read aloud. Some things just made me hate the recording

The Black Dahlia will pull you in

What made the experience of listening to The Black Dahlia the most enjoyable?

The Narrator voice matched the story

What did you like best about this story?

Based on fact

What about Stephen Hoye’s performance did you like?

His voice added to the story

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

I dare you to watch Black Dahlia

Any additional comments?

As you read this book you will find yourself asking for more

Noir both spectacular and personal

I normally will read 2 or 3 books at a time. As soon as I started The Black Dahila, I hadn't picked up anything else. Set in post war Los Angeles, like the rest of the LA Quartet series, the story focuses on a particularly horrific murder and investigation surrounding it. Far from a garden variety procedural story, Black Dahila is a deep dive into the very personal trauma of all the characters impacted by the murder. From the victim, to the detectives detailed to the investigation (McEllroy focuses on two in particular) and to the women in those detectives' lives. Again, modern day readers may be jarred by the racism and sexism so casually prevalent in the story. I would argue that 21st century humans aren't any more evolved that our 1950s counterparts; we just dress up our flaws differently. McEllroy takes all the post war shine off America and takes into lives of deeply flawed and incredibly strong people, some of whom are evil and others who are fighting to find the rightness in their world. Again, great book!

Classic Noir

Loved this creepy love triangle so much. More even on my second listen. 1940s LA comes alive.

Black Dahlia

I woudn't recommend this book for anyone who cannot handle violence in their literature . . . that being said, the book was very compelling and didn't just cover the tragedy of the murder of a young woman; it also gave us a look at the darkness of the lives of our main characters. Being able to get a picture of what drove the characters to be portrayed in the manner they were helped the book flow better and gave insight to their actions. After reading this book I was driven to do internet searches and learn more about the true crime that occured - I had never heard of the Black Dahlia before. I did feel a little lost in the final chapters of the book as I felt they skipped around a lot; however I did walk away from the story feeling like justice was served in the story (and hopefully in real life). I have recommended this book to several of my friends.

GREAT BOOK

Let me say I am a rabid fan of James Ellroy.
His genius is that he goes into his characters souls and he understands the human soul very well.
Be aware that his mother was murdered in much the same way The Dahlia was murdered. This should give you more insight into of his characters feelings for The Dahlia.

Bland delivery

Being a big fan of the genre, voice and era James Ellroy's writing has come to define and having heard all the blasting the film version of this book took for not playing faithful to its source material, I came to The Black Dahlia with high hopes that were met with varying levels of satisfaction. Fans of the dark underbelly running beneath the sunny streets of Hollywood that Ellroy's words paint so well won't be disappointed, but those looking for much of a story to chew on might. I was a little surprised that the movie took so much heat for being unfocused and hokey, since the book could lose all of Kay Lake and the ridiculous boxer-lab technician turn and retain much of its grit, charm and coherence. But the winding, sometimes mundane tale has plenty of big moments that remind you the big fault with this version of the story is NOT the author. After listening to Craig Wasson's rendering of L.A. Confidential, I gave that version a lot of crap for the cliche impressions to which most of the characters were reduced. Well, I wish as much life was breathed into The Black Dahlia. Hoye is a good narrator - he'd be an excellent history or science genre voice - but he comes off too cultured and soft for most of the machine gun patter of Ellroy's prose. Overall if you like L.A. Confidential, Ellroy or have a passing interest in The Black Dahlia you'll probably read this book and not be too disappointed.

Pretty good

I was in a mood for detective noir and this really scratched that itch. The interesting thing about the story is how much the Black Dahlia mystery itself sits in the background and let's the characters showcase how troubled they are. My only complaint is that the last few chapters over-explain a bunch. I'd prefer if the story still left some things unexplained. However, the writing is moody and the narration is good. An excellent find.