Reads like a film noir

Ellroy, a master at cop characterization writes the fictionalized account of a "true Hollywood murder" in the late 50s, that of young Elizabeth Short

The story is told from Bucky Bleichert's point of view. He's a cop newly promoted to Warrants, the story starts off with a surprisingly compelling boxing match to generate good publicity for the department. He's paired up with Lee Blanchard, someone he looks up to but the man has some baggage. As they start to get into the swing of things, they catch a big case, huge, a mutilated beauty that will takeover and run both their lives for years

There's a lot of details all throughout the book and a close reading will yield a lot of "ah ha" moments as there are numerous twists at the end. Pretty good for crime fiction

The narrative is very close to L.A. Confidential (which I've watched but not read) in style and story


Quotes
"If I took ______ in I was shot to shit as a policeman, if I let h__ go I was finished as a man"