The Black Dahlia (L.A. Quartet, #1)

The Black Dahlia (L.A. Quartet #1)

3.65 of 5 stars 3.65  ·  rating details  ·  28,868 ratings  ·  1,041 reviews
On January 15, 1947, the torture-ravished body of a beautiful young woman is found in a Los Angeles vacant lot. The victim makes headlines as the Black Dahlia-and so begins the greatest manhunt in California history.Caught up in the investigation are Bucky Bleichert and Lee Blanchard: Warrants Squad cops, friends, and rivals in love with the same woman. But both are obsess...more
Paperback, 337 pages
Published August 16th 2006 by Mysterious Press (first published 1987)
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Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 3,000)
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Nikita T. Mitchell
I'm not big on this whole "going green" trend, but today I thought about one thing all book lovers can do to contribute to society: use your library card more often.

You probably thought I had something clever to say. Sorry to disappoint but let me explain.

My Analysis of The Black Dahlia:
-324 pages in the book
-67 pages until the plot begins to unfold
-300 pages before the book becomes unputdownable, as I like to call it

What does that leave us with?
...approximately 67 pages of wasted paper and 23...more
Adam
I've had plenty of bad things to say about James Ellroy over the years, but his work continues to compel me. I found the writing style of American Tabloid unreadable, and the novels of his that I have read have ranged from awful (Brown's Requiem) to pretty good (LA Confidential and White Jazz), but no matter how powerful I found them in stretches or how vivid the subject matter, I always had reservations about his novels.

For whatever reason, however, I thought The Black Dahlia was really good, a...more
Ginny
Montagne russe
Una storia torbida, di corruzione, imprudenza, squallore, disillusione e morte. Ma anche la storia dell'ossessione che accomuna due uomini, dilagando insidiosamente nel loro intimo fino a minare il loro equilibrio, la loro amicizia e la loro stessa esistenza.
Questa ossessione contagia in qualche modo anche il lettore, che viene come risucchiato nel meccanismo ammaliante - e al tempo stesso inquietante e insidioso - di una indagine minuziosa, che mette via via in luce i cupi retrosc...more
Kua
Nonostante la seconda parte non mi abbia entusiasmato, questo libro è stato un approccio con James Ellroy più piacevole del primo tentativo (L.A. Confidential), di cui non ricordo praticamente nulla. Ho comunque un appunto da fare: non ho assolutamente capito PERCHE', dopo tutto il romanzo passato a cercare l'assassino della Dalia, una volta che Bleichert lo trova, di colpo viene preso da sentimentalismi di vario genere (francamente poco convincenti) e amen, lascia tutto come sta. Mah... La part...more
Jemidar

So gripping that I read this virtually in one sitting, but definitely not for fainthearted. This is 1940s LA at it's gritty, sleazy best with lashings of testosterone, violence, sexism, racism, blackmail, corruption, bad cops, shoddy developers, family secrets and the odd necrophiliac. The characters are way past being flawed; they are totally f*cked up. And the details of the murder are grisly.

Classic noir based on true crime, with the investigation being fictionalized into one man's obsession...more
Tfitoby
This sure is a bleak one and that's an understatement. Aside from the unnecessary opening section focussing on the evolution of the partnership and an interminable chapter giving a blow by blow account of a boxing match this is pretty much classic Ellroy.

This is a true noir, not hard-boiled or pulpy but a story as black and self-destructive as they come. The memoir of a cop making bad choices, knowing that he is making them and unable to stop his own fate; leaving out the existential malaise tha...more
Izzy
Oct 19, 2012 Izzy rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: You
The Black Dahlia is a thriller
Ellroy’s masterpiece
Gritty, seamy, LA noir

UGH. SHUT UP, me.

Okay, so – what’s the most important singular event that has ever happened in your life? Think of something good. Bonus points if it was tragic. Extra lives if it sullied your early youth. Mortal Kombat Fatality (in an arcade, after school in the ‘90s) if it also involved sex and your mother.

Even if this important singular event didn’t involve these specific elements, surely you must have something to cont...more
Eric_W
"I want to be known as the greatest crime novelist who ever lived." Strong words from James Ellroy, whose novels combine the harsh dialogue and dark characters of Raymond Chandler and the evisceration of dirty family secrets that Ross MacDonald was so good at. The Black Dahlia takes place in Los Angeles just after the end WW II. Two officers, Mr. Ice and Mr. Fire, as they are nicknamed for their boxing styles -- they are both ex-boxers -- return to the ring for the glory of the LAPD and its tax...more
Flash Beagle
Strong narrative, severe violence, graphic depictions...

What was most interesting to me was Ellroy's theory of who & why the most sensational unsolved murder in LA history was committed - and the reason it remains unsolved. It's basic (lust, revenge, naivete, and, although over the top in its depiction, it is believable.)
Total spoiler ahead -
(view spoiler)[

Meet the Spragues (a modern version of House of Lannister)

- father Emmett made his money building shoddy dwellings so unsafe they late
...more
Ben
Ellroy, heard enough about him recently? Another GR craze. I’ve been putting off this review for two weeks now, and honestly, I still don’t want to write it. The thing is, while I only enjoyed this to an “OK” level, I really can understand the commotion surrounding the guy. He wrote this with great insight and intensity; it has a brilliantly complex storyline, and it is very well executed. The web of connections are aplenty, it has a ferocious acuteness to it, and there was a period of time duri...more
Taka
Haunting--

If you weather through the slightly dull first 68 pages, you're in for a treat. Lies, betrayals, deceptions, frauds, frames, corruption, and all imaginable sorts of grime are loaded to be splashed on you. It's a damn good ride all the way to the climax where plot twist upon twist pummels you to half stupor. Although I thought the last twist was a bit too much, I gleefully turned the pages, immersed in the dark, dirty, intense world of the book and enjoying every moment in it.

James Ellr...more
Sarah
(First off, I should say that besides having seen a few previews of the movie version that came out a while back, I know nothing about the Black Dahlia or the wealth of other books about this case except for the 200 or so pages I've read so far. The movie previews had piqued my salacious curiosity and I randomly picked up the book from the library the other week without doing much research about what else is out there.)

At first I was struck by the literary heft of a book that reads like the har...more
Tabby Kat
Based on a notorious, unsolved Los Angeles murder case, the central drama of this hard-boiled mystery--set in the late 1940s--begins when the body of Elizabeth Short, an engagingly beautiful and promiscuous woman in her 20s, is discovered in a vacant lot, cut in half, disemboweled and bearing evidence that she had been tortured for several days before dying. Dubbed "The Black Dahlia" by the press, the victim becomes an obsession for two L.A.P.D. cops, narrator Bucky Bleichert and his partner, Le...more
Sara
This is probably the hardest to read of James Ellroy's novels, but it's also one of my favorites. Apparently, Ellroy modeled the tragic death of the young starlet in the novel after his mother's mysterious death. In typical Ellroy fashion, there's plenty of intrigue, corrupt government officials, intrigue and heart-stopping action. This is also one of the only books that has any emotional resonance for me, probably because the subject was so close to reality for him. What I love most about Ellro...more
El
Aug 16, 2008 El rated it 2 of 5 stars
Recommended to El by: 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die (193/1001)
I have been out of town for the past week and do not have much desire to go in-depth in my discussion of books I have read in that time. The Black Dahlia in particular is one that I was so highly disappointed in that I don't have the heart to give it much more than an "it was okay" rating. As much as I adore perfectly twisted murder mystery movies and books I found Ellroy's book sadly incompetent. Maybe I expected something a little more Sunset Boulevard-in-print than this. All in all I found it...more
Arwen56
Finalmente sono arrivata al termine. Non ne potevo più. Questo romanzo mi ha tediata a morte: confusionario, poco credibile, scritto coi piedi e con un finale che fa venire il latte alle ginocchia. E meno male che ne avevo letto delle buone recensioni. Che non so proprio come abbiano fatto a scrivere coloro che le hanno redatte, perché trovarci anche solo un minimo pregio, è un lavoro da certosini.

In buona sostanza, col piffero che leggerò qualche altro romanzo di questo autore.
lisa_emily
Jun 05, 2008 lisa_emily rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: harddick-types
Shelves: 1001-books, fictions
I was initially surprised by the tough-guy narrative style, but it fit the style and created the characters. Most interesting about this book is how the characters are manifested; each character was built of many shades between decency and fallibility; each character overcomes or is debilitated by past trauma; the reaction sets forth a trajectory which affects each life.

Not only is The Black Dahlia a curious character-study, but a snapshot of a Los Angeles trapped in time; a Los Angeles before b...more
Dave
Jan 08, 2013 Dave marked it as to-read  ·  review of another edition
Shelves: calibre, fiction
EDITORIAL REVIEW: El 15 de enero de 1947, en un solar de Los Angeles, aparecio el cadaver desnudo y seccionado en dos de una mujer joven. El medico forense determino que la habian torturado durante dias. Elizabeth Short, de 22 años, llamada la Dalia Negra, llevara a los detectives a los bajos fondos de Hollywood, para asi involucrar a ciertas personas adineradas de Los Angeles. Ambos estan obsesionados por lo que fue la vida de la Dalia Negra, y, sobre todo, por capturar al individuo que la ase...more
Erika L. Miller
I'm not much for detective stories but this book has definitely sold me. It's written in a very unique voice, that of, Bucky Bleichert, an ex-boxer turned LA cop. The story starts off slow, at least in my opinion, about his relationship with his father, his fallen career and his time on the force. How he meets Lee Blanchard, another ex-boxer turned cop, and the steps that lead up to them becoming partners. I loved watching Bucky trying to remain the good cop and stay focused on his Warrants' cas...more
Rafal Jasinski
Niezwykle udana próba zmierzenia się z niewyjaśnioną zagadką brutalnej zbrodni z lat czterdziestych minionego wieku. Ellroy z właściwą sobie finezją wplata fakty pomiędzy spekulacje, konfrontując postaci rzeczywiście związane z historią Czarnej Dalii z fikcyjnymi. Świadomość, iż sprawa nie znalazła do tej pory rozwiązania, od samego początku pozwala się domyślać, że jej finał znajdzie się daleko poza kulisami oficjalnego śledztwa, a jej bohaterowie staną niejednokrotnie przed trudnymi i niejedno...more
Joshua Buhs
Wow! The novel drew me in quickly, but I got kind of bored early on, not only because it took a while to get to the Dahlia--much of the first section probably would have served better in a flashback--but because even once the story shifted to the investigation, a lot of it seemed passe. I chocked this up to the book coming out in 1987, and itself being so rooted in the noir of Chandler and Hammett. [I did notice a lot of the dialogue would later show up in The Wire.]
But then the story kept pushi...more
Chris Shepherdson
To read James Ellroy's oeuvre is to read what made America what it is today; glamour, filth, success, failure all share the page and the paragraph. To read Ellroy's masterwork, The Black Dahlia, is to read what made James Ellroy what he is today.
Based on the true story of the still unsolved murder of Elizabeth Short in 1947, The Black Dahlia is Ellroy's most heart felt work. Not surprising when one considers Ellroy's mother was murdered when he was a child and the young Ellroy transferred the em...more
Robert
"On January 15, 1947, the torture-ravished body of a beautiful young woman is found in a Los Angeles vacant lot. The victim makes headlines as the Black Dahlia-and so begins the greatest manhunt in California history. Caught up in the investigation are Bucky Bleichert and Lee Blanchard: Both are obsessed with the Dahlia-driven by dark needs to know everything about her past, to capture her killer, to possess the woman even in death. Their quest will take them on a hellish journey through the und...more
Büchermonster
Officer Dwight “Bucky” Bleichert ist relativ frisch bei der Polizei in Los Angeles und strebt eine erfolgreiche Cop-Karriere an. Außerdem kann er eine erfolgreiche Laufbahn als Amateurboxer vorweisen, in der er unter dem Kampfnamen “Mr. Eis” bisher in über 30 Fights ungeschlagen blieb. Um seine Vorgesetzten beim Wahlkampf zu unterstützen und weil er sich im Gegenzug eine Beförderung erhofft, lässt er sich auf einen medienwirksamen Boxkampf gegen den befreundeten Sergeant Lee Blanchard ein, der a...more
Elisa
Il noir con tutti i sacri crismi. Poliziotti corrotti, dal pugno facile, in una Hollywood anni '40 dalle tinte fosche. Un assassinio atroce, una donna mutilata il cui cadavere viene trovato in mezzo alla strada. Le vite di due poliziotti stravolte dal tentativo di venire a capo del caso.

Uno dei due poliziotti protagonisti è la voce narrante, ci accompagna attraverso le rivelazioni, la raccolta dei tasselli che ricompongono la vita di Elizabeth Short nei giorni precedenti l'omicidio. Lo fa come s...more
Ben Eldridge
In a word, raw. The narrative holds together reasonably well for the most part, but honestly, this would have benefited from some brutal editing. The pacing is particularly uneven... major sections of the novel are extremely slow and unnecessary (almost the entirety of Part I could have been dropped). The makings of the future brilliance of Ellroy are evident: the drawn out tension of (main character) Bleichert's descent into obsession is amazing (especially early in Part IV), and his early fli...more
Michael Fierce
Apr 11, 2012 Michael Fierce rated it 5 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition Recommends it for: fans of fim noir, murder mystery detective novels, serial killer novels
The Black Dahlia is the fictional account of Hollywood's most notorious murder case of Elizabeth Ann Short in 1947. The book, written by James Ellroy, is a reinvention in form of the noir gangster and detective murder mystery novels and films from the 30's and 40's. Borrowing much of it's language, imagery and style from the most famous of the bunch, The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett, and The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler, that both starred Humphrey Bogart in the lead roles of the movie ver...more
Krista Ashe
So I'd seen a review that the last half of the book beat you over the head with plot twists. I'd like to challenge that review and say it was more like being blugeoned with a sharp object several times. I kept going, "Whoa, hold the phone! Srsly?!!" Don't get me wrong, I like a plot twist, but good lord, it was insane!

I knew the story of the Black Dahlia from watching a History channel or E True Hollywood story. I knew James Ellroy from LA Confidential. So I expected the gritty, no real hero, ta...more
Shovelmonkey1
Jan 23, 2012 Shovelmonkey1 rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: fans of smoky bars and trenchcoats
Recommended to Shovelmonkey1 by: 1001 books list
* The door to the bar swings open and in strides a down at heel gumshoe with a cigarette drooping from his bottom lip. He strides through the bar, his stained raincoat flapping behind him as he pushes aside vacant bar stools and squints through the thinning veil of cigarette smoke. He spots his target and heads to a booth lined with vinyl seats at the back of the room. Pausing he grinds his cigarette butt beneath his heel, hands over the manuscript, tips his hat and leaves.*

And that is how this...more
Al
A hard core police procedural set in 1947 Los Angeles. Taking off on the famous Black Dahlia (true) case, this (fiction) book is seen through the eyes of a rookie policeman who becomes involved in the case and winds up getting sucked in beyond his depth. Lots of authentic tough guy talk, contemporary slang and police shorthand, some of which is a little hard to follow but manageable. Less manageable is the jumping around and resurrection of old clues and characters after many intervening chapte...more
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Mysteries & C...: * June Group Read: The Black Dahlia 34 73 Jun 17, 2013 03:34pm  
Books2Movies Club: Discussing the novel The Black Dahlia 11 28 May 15, 2013 04:50pm  
Books2Movies Club: The Flick 1 11 Apr 30, 2013 06:50pm  
Books2Movies Club: Josh Hartnett as Bucky? 1 10 Apr 30, 2013 04:35pm  
El final 5 72 Mar 28, 2013 07:48pm  
Aussie Lovers of...: Jan-Mar The Black Dahlia - Final Thoughts *Spoilers* 12 29 Mar 21, 2013 01:57pm  
Aussie Lovers of...: Jan-Mar The Black Dahlia - First Impressions *No Spoilers* 7 25 Mar 05, 2013 07:00pm  
The Black Dahlia (L.A. Quartet #1)
The Black Dahlia (Paperback)
The Black Dahlia (Paperback)
The Black Dahlia (L.A. Quartet #1)
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James Ellroy was born in Los Angeles in 1948. His L.A. Quartet novels—The Black Dahlia, The Big Nowhere, L.A. Confidential, and White Jazz—were international best sellers. His novel American Tabloid was Time magazine’s Best Book (fiction) of 1995; his memoir, My Dark Places, was a Time Best Book of the Year and a New York Times Notable Book for 1996. His novel The Cold Six Thousand was a New York...more
More about James Ellroy...
L.A. Confidential (L.A. Quartet #3) American Tabloid (Underworld USA, #1) The Big Nowhere (L.A. Quartet #2) White Jazz (L.A. Quartet, #4) The Cold Six Thousand (Underworld USA, #2)

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“Where’s your sketch pad?” I asked.

… “I gave that up,” Kay said. “I wasn’t very good, so I changed my major.”

“To what?”

“To pre-med, then psychology, then English lit, then history.”

“I like a woman who knows what she wants.”

Kay smiled. “So do I, but I don’t know any.”
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