James Ellroy Knihy

Politický thriller, který nás zavádí do zákulisí vysoké politiky USA na přelomu 50. a 60. let 20. století. Složitý děj románu předestírá situaci ve Spojených státech v letech 1958 až 1963, v období od zvolení J. F. Kennedyho americkým prezidentem až po atentát v Dallasu. Na pozadí příběhu tří bývalých agentů, kteří se pro peníze stávají hybnou silou všech intrik poznáváme zkorumpovanost v nejvyšších politických kruzích, kde každý na někoho něco ví, kde se jedná bez skrupulí, jen pro vlastní prospěch, kde se jen těžko rozezná, kdo na čí straně stojí, spolupráce tajných služeb s mafií je jen běžnou záležitostí a kde to vše je zaštiťováno nejvyššími zájmy. Dobře napsaný román, který demýtizuje představy o americké spravedlnosti a demokracii a kreslí některé nové souvislosti atentátu na J.F.K., který je i po čtyřiceti letech stále zahalen mnoha tajemstvími.

Detektivní román odehrávající se v bouřlivé atmosféře Los Angeles 50. let. Tři detektivové losangeleské policie řeší případ šestinásobné vraždy. Na základě zjištěných skutečností otevírají již v minulosti vyřešený případ brutálních vražd se sexuálním motivem. Ve žhavé atmosféře losangeleského světa překupníků drog, nelegálního obchodu s alkoholem a pornografií se dostávají nebezpečně blízko odhalení korupce a obchodů s mafií ve vysokých politických a policejních kruzích. Výborně napsaný román, který lze považovat za klasiku žánru, se též stal předlohou úspěšného hollywoodského filmu.

L.A., 1958. Corrupt Lt. Dave Klein, rapidly into a morass of bribes, fixes, and murder, hunts a thief whose crime-family victims don't want him caught and agrees to dig dirt on a Howard Hughes starlet--all while struggling to duck the fallout from his latest killing. As controversy over the proposed stadium for the Dodgers in Chavez Ravine brings city politics to a boil, Dave gets the word from mobster Mickey Cohen to help Sanderline Johnson, a half-wit croupier picked up in a raid, out his ninth-floor window before he can testify. The official verdict is flipped-out suicide, but the murder squeezes Dave between his department patron, detective chief Ed Exley; his would-be patron, Capt. Dudley Smith, deep in the Organization's pocket; double-dealing D.A. Bob Gallaudet; and Welles Noonan, a politically-minded US attorney with blood in his eye. Meanwhile, Exley puts Dave in charge of a break-in to the home of mobster J. C. Kafesjian, who wants him off the case; and Dave falls in love with Glenda Bledsoe, the starlet whose contract Hollywood mogul Hughes wants to break--and vows to protect her from the man whose money he's taking to break her. As if all this weren't trouble enough, somebody (Exley? Gallaudet? Dud Smith?) frames Dave for a murder that's been captured on film.

The Black Dahlia depicts the infrastructure of L.A.'s most sensational murder case. A young cop morphs into the obsessed lover and lust-crazed avenger. His rogue investigation is a one-way ticket to hell

The Big Nowhere: In 1950s LA three men are drawn into the shadow of communist witch hunts and violent killings that force each one to confront his own personal darkness. Three of the most epic and powerful crime novels ever written, this volume is an explosive journey through the dark side of recent American history, and crime writing at its best.

"America was never innocent." Thus begins the Underworld U.S.A. Trilogy. It's James Ellroy's pop history of the 1960s, his window-peeper's view of government misconduct, his dirty trickster's take on the great events of an incendiary era. It's a tour de force of the American idiom, and an acknowledged masterpiece. American Tabloid gives us Jack Kennedy's ride, seen from an insider's perspective. We're there for the rigged 1960 election. We're there for the Bay of Pigs fiasco. We're the eyes and ears and souls of three rogue cops who've signed on for the ride and come to see Jack as their betrayer. We're Jack's pimps and hatchet men, and we're there for that baroque slaying in Dallas.The Cold Six Thousand takes us from Dallas to Vietnam to Memphis to the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel in L.A. We're rubbing shoulders with RFK and MLK, calamitous klansmen, noted mafiosi. We're forced to relive the American sixties--and we come away breathless.The first two books of the Underworld U.S.A. Trilogy revisit the most anarchic decade in our history. They are defined by their brutal linguistic flair and reckless panache.

The Black Dahlia depicts the infrastructure of L.A.'s most sensational murder case. White Jazz gives us the tortured confession of a cop who's gone to the bad - killer, slum landlord and parasitic exploiter.

This time the ride takes us from Dallas to Vietnam to Las Vegas to Memphis to Cuba to the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel in L.A. A kid private eye clashes with a mob goon and an enforcer for FBI director Edgar Hoover in L.A.

This novel is set in Los Angeles, the city of angels that has become the city of the Angel of Death. It is about communist witch-hunts and about insanely violent killings which are terrorising the community.

It is Christmas, 1951, Los Angeles. A city where the police are as corrupt as the criminals, six prisoners are beaten senseless in their cells by cops crazed on alcohol. For the three L.A.P.D. detectives involved, it will expose the guilty secrets on which they have built their corrupt and violent careers