Wildcat Play by Helen Knode, reviewed for Ellroy Reads

For the latest episode of Ellroy Reads I look at Wildcat Play, Helen Knode’s excellent sequel to her debut novel The Ticket Out. In The Ticket Out, Knode’s heroine Ann Whitehead is a film critic working in Los Angeles whose life is turned upside down by a murder. In Wildcat Play Whitehead has quit her job as a critic and is now working in the oil industry in the San Joaquin Valley, but it’s not long before another murder drags her back into a world of danger and intrigue.

This is the final episode of Ellroy Reads for the year. The show will return in January 2026. Thank you to everyone who has supported the show and this website this year. Subscribe to the show if you haven’t already. 2026 is going to be an epic Ellroy year!