Ellroy Reads – Black Dahlia Avenger by Steve Hodel
November 3, 2024
tags: Adaptations, Books, Crime Fiction, Elizabeth Short, George Hodel, James Ellroy, LAPD, Larry Harnisch, Los Angeles, Peter Vanezis, St Bart's Pathology Museum, Steve Hodel, The Black Dahlia, True Crime
by Steve Powell
For the latest episode of Ellroy Reads, I look at James Ellroy’s endorsement of Steve Hodel’s True Crime epic Black Dahlia Avenger. This is a somewhat unusual episode as Ellroy has subsequently withdrawn his endorsement of Hodel’s book, but I felt compelled to map out Ellroy’s longstanding involvement with Dahlia researchers. Giving his support to Steve Hodel’s theory regarding the Dahlia murder was probably the pinnacle of this aspect of Ellroy’s career.
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The Venetian Vase 
Steve Hodel seems like a thoroughly decent man and his background as a decorated LAPD detective is a change from the typical “My father was secretly the so-and-so killer” sub-genre of true crime books. However, apart from the LAPD wiretapping George Hodel as a suspect, which can’t be totally ignored, the theory seems incredibly light on hard facts.
The books are interesting for the info on the LAPD of the period and things like the “werewolf murders”, but it just gets harder to believe with every new book adding even more victims (including the Zodiac murders) to George Hodel’s supposed body count.
Keeping it strictly to BDA, Hodel was the prime suspect. They had him on tape virtually admitting the crime, possibly committing a murder while being recorded on audio. The rest is mostly circumstantial but circumstantial evidence can be powerful. Agree with you that Steve is a very decent, civic minded guy, as well as being extremely generous.
Definitely agree that George Hodel was a nasty piece of work. I think it’s quite likely he is a murderer(the secretary) and still open- minded about Elizabeth Short. Unfortunately for me it’s a situation where the string of subsequent books with increasingly elaborate claims end up inevitably tainting and calling into question the original compelling premise even if it has merit.
There was an American TV mini-series a few years back -I Am The Night- with Chris Pine as a 60’s tabloid reporter investigating Hodel. It was partly based on the abuse claims by Hodel’s daughter (Steve’s half- sister).
I am with you on the subsequent books – I stopped reading them after awhile. However, I tend to think they mostly discredited the theories out forth in those books about the Zodiac and so on. I still think George Hodel holds up as the Dahlia killer. I never saw I Am the Night. I have a vague recollection of Steve Hodel saying he didn’t like it, but I should give it a watch.