Ellroy James. Brown's Requiem

A crime novel. — MysteriousPress.com/Open Road, 2011. — 256 p. — ISBN: 978-1453227961.Orig. published in 1981.In James Ellroy's first novel, a PI investigates a deadly conspiracy at one of Los Angeles's most exclusive country clubsIt would be a stretch to call Fritz Brown a detective. A PI in name only, he washed out of the police force at twenty-five, and makes a cash living doing under-the-table repo work for a sleazy used-car dealer. It's an ugly job, but Fritz is not one to say no to easy money. That doesn't mean he won't take a case now and then.A caddy visits his office, asking Fritz to dig up dirt on the golf-nut who's dating his sister. Convinced by the caddy's suspiciously fat wad of bills, Fritz agrees to investigate, hoping for a chance to meet the girl. Instead he finds himself embroiled in a tangled world of country club intrigue, where wealth can buy innocence and murder is not half as rare as a hole-in-one.“[Ellroy] can make the night world of sleaze and street monsters come alive on the page.” — St. Louis Globe-Democrat“Ellroy sprays declarative sentences like machine-gun bullets, blasting to kingdom come all notions of justice, heroism, and simple decency.” —
Entertainment Weekly“Nobody in this generation matches the breadth and depth of James Ellroy’s way with noir.” — Detroit NewsWith his outsize personality and distinctive prose style, James Ellroy (b. 1948) is one of the finest modern authors of hard-boiled fiction. His mother was murdered in 1958, and in his twenties Ellroy moved from job to job, finally finding steady work as a caddy, an experience which formed the backdrop for his first mystery, Brown’s Requiem. Among the many honors and accolades he has received for his work, the Mystery Writers of America named James Ellroy a Grand Master in 2015.He drew a cult following with his first books, which included the Lloyd Hopkins trilogy of police novels, and found widespread fame with 1987’s The Black Dahlia, a meticulously researched account of Los Angeles’s most famous unsolved murder.That novel and 1990’s L.A. Confidential, both of which were adapted for the screen, cemented his notoriety as an author of historical crime fiction. Ellroy lives and works in Los Angeles.This book is a Shamus Award Nominee for Best Original PI Paperback in 1982.