ELLROY READS – Red Dragon by Thomas Harris
For the latest episode of Ellroy Reads, I take the viewer back to 1981 and the start of the serial killer genre craze that began with the publication of Thomas Harris’s Red Dragon. Red Dragon, the novel that introduced Dr Hannibal ‘the Cannibal’ Lector to the world, had a huge effect on genre fiction. It also had a profound influence on the work of James Ellroy, who would strive to write great serial killer novels for several years before finding his voice on other subjects.
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ELLROY READS – ‘No Beast So Fierce’ by Edward Bunker
The latest episode of ‘Ellroy Reads’ is out now. I discuss Edward Bunker’s classic debut novel No Beast So Fierce.
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ELLROY READS – The Badge by Jack Webb
In the latest episode of Ellroy Reads I look at Jack Webb’s The Badge, written as a companion piece to the smash-hit radio and television show Dragnet. The influence of The Badge on James Ellroy was huge. In LA Confidential, Jack Vincennes is the LAPD’s technical advisor to the television show Badge of Honour. Discover some of the other connections to Ellroy’s work in the below video.
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Thoughts on CrimeFest 2024
I’ve just got back from Bristol where I attended my first CrimeFest, as Love Me Fierce in Danger: The Life of James Ellroy was nominated for the HRF Keating award. I didn’t win but met so many wonderful people, including the fabulous Ayo Onatade, that I felt like a winner. I’d heard a lot of great things about CrimeFest over the years and I’m happy to report that they’re all true. It is definitely the funniest event that I have attended. When you’ve got brilliantly witty moderators such as Donna Moore, you can be sure to be laughing non-stop.
The list of featured guests was excellent. Ayo interviewed Laura Lippman onstage (they are old friends). Lippman dazzled the audience with her caustic Baltimore wit. She is ‘Charm City’ to her fingertips. She described being harangued at parties for what her ex-husband had done to the city’s reputation. ‘I was married to a writer named David Simon. He had some success’ she commented drily. A former journalist, Lippman broke down in tears when describing losing five colleagues in the Capital Gazette shooting.
‘Dame’ Denise Mina was just as memorable. She tells people she has the Royal honour, but admitted that she made it up. Her best piece of writing advice was fiercely blunt, ‘Have you ever made a fool of yourself? Did you survive it?’ Then fuckit!’
Rounding off this trio of strong women was the extraordinary Lynda La Plante. A former actress, La Plante is still every inch the RADA-trained performer. It’s as though she has never left the stage. She doesn’t just tell an anecdote, she performs it, with all of the accents and body movements necessary to nail every part of the story. The release of her memoirs later this year promises to be a publishing event.
One of the many highlights of the festival was to see James Lee Burke interviewed via videolink. Known for being elusive and for refusing to travel by air or sea, Burke gives very few interviews but came across as a complete natural. Shortly before his appearance we were told that the interview might be scuppered by a large storm near Burke’s home. Inevitably, conference delegates were bracing themselves for disappointment, but I remember thinking that it was somehow apt. Landscape and its malleable nature is such an important feature of the Dave Robicheaux novels. To our relief, the interview went ahead and Burke struck me as an old-fashioned Southern gentlemen and with bags of charm. For an octogenarian, he appeared to be in great shape. Burke insisted that the ghostly figures that haunt the Robicheaux novels exist. He wouldn’t be drawn on whether he had ever seen a ghost, but claimed that he had ‘experiences’.
And that pretty much describes my first CrimeFest. It was a shame I didn’t bag that Keating award, but the night before I left for Bristol I discovered that Love Me Fierce in Danger had been nominated for an Anthony Award which will be presented at Bouchercon in Nashville later this year. Wish me luck!
Broken Oaths by Patricia Marques – Review
Broken Oaths marks the return of Patricia Marques’s Inspector Reis series. This is the third novel in the series that mixes detective and speculative fiction with fascinating results. Marques has created a world in which a minority of the population are ‘gifted’. They possess powers of telepathy and telekinesis, and are generally distrusted and discriminated against by the rest of society. Inspector Reis is in a unique position, as a policewoman who is also gifted. In the first two novels Reis, and her professional partner Aleks Voronov, investigated some fiendishly complicated cases. In Broken Oaths they face their most difficult case yet, as they leave their native Lisbon to investigate a series of bizarre deaths at the Portuguese embassy in London.
In a genre saturated by formulaic fiction, Broken Oaths offers the reader something new. It’s essentially a locked room mystery with a political twist. One subplot seems to have been inspired by Julian Assange’s rent-free stay at the Ecuadorian embassy in London. The ghoulishness of the deaths reminded me of other aspects of London lore, such as the ‘spy in the bag’ affair. All in all, it’s a terrific read, that will leave you clamouring to see what Marques does next.
Reflections on the 2024 Edgar Awards
I never thought I’d win.
I didn’t dare to think about it at all from the moment I got the news that Love Me Fierce in Danger: The Life of James Ellroy had been nominated for the Edgar Award for Best Biographical/Critical Book. However, when I took my seat in the banquet room at the Marriott Marquis Hotel, it suddenly occurred to me that I might win, in fact, that I would win, and I’d better prepare a few words.
The Marriott is a beautiful venue with world-famous Schindler Lifts (or perhaps I should say elevators). In the lobby, you input your intended floor into a keypad. You are then directed to an allotted glass elevator which takes you up to your floor, at dizzying speed, without any stops along the way.
After a champagne reception for nominees, we were led to our table where I was delighted to find that I was seated next to a fellow nominee – Colson Whitehead. Whitehead is a two-time Pulitzer winner, and for most of the evening people were swarming around him vying for his attention. He handled it all with impeccable charm and grace. I got to monopolize his attention through sheer luck of the logistical draw. I poured him a very large glass of wine, and he joked that I was trying to get him drunk in case he had to give an acceptance speech. As it happens he didn’t win, and he didn’t get tipsy either.
When my category was read out, Colson gave me a thumbs-up as my wife Diana let out a supportive whoop. I kept my acceptance speech short but remembered to thank everyone on my list. The best, and funniest, speech of the night was by R.L. Stine who was named a Grand Master of the Mystery Writers of America:
One of the strange factors of being a writer is that some of your best friendships are through correspondence. You rarely get a chance to meet these friends in person. That changed when I got to shake the hand of Hard Case Crime founder Charles Ardai, who had been very supportive throughout the research phase of the book. While I was taking official winner photos, Di wangled me an invitation to Otto Penzler’s post-ceremony party at the Brazen Tavern. On the walk over I swapped biographer’s war stories with John Glatt. When we got there I chatted, or perhaps I should say shouted (as it was cacophonously noisy), with Harlan Coben and Katherine Hall Page, who had also been named Grand Master. The person I really wanted to talk to was Penzler.
There have been some recent moves to cancel Otto. I can say without hesitation that they are doomed to fail. He is a God at the MWA and the Edgars, which he has been attending since the 1970s. The first thing he said to me was ‘I hate you’… Love Me Fierce in Danger had been pitted against a book published by Penzler’s Mysterious Press. I replied that my win was his fault: he was so candid with me about his time with Ellroy, and it had greatly benefitted the biography. ‘Always being candid is one of my faults’ he retorted with his trademark curmudgeonly charm.
And then the evening was over and it was more or less time to go home. We said a sad farewell to New York City, but with the pleasant knowledge that one day it would draw us back. Our time there had been typically dramatic. Streets near our Harlem residence had been closed off due to student protests against the Israel-Palestine War. Around three hundred students were arrested at Columbia and CUNY. There was a large police presence on the streets.
The only trouble we had with the law came when I was caught trying to smuggle a disembodied head through Customs! Luckily the charming Customs official (that’s usually an oxymoron) took it all in great humour.
In the latest episode of Ellroy Reads I look at Eric Knight’s You Play The Black And The Red Comes Up. I discuss the influence of the novel on the hardboiled genre and Ellroy in particular.
Oh, and I have some news. Love Me Fierce in Danger: The Life of James Ellroy won the Edgar Award for Best Critical/Biographical. I’ll be posting more about the ceremony in the coming days. Right now, I am just recovering from the jetlag and the most extraordinary few days of my life.
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ELLROY READS – ‘Red Harvest’ by Dashiell Hammett
In the latest episode of Ellroy Reads I look at Dashiell Hammett’s Red Harvest, which is one of the single biggest influences on James Ellroy’s writing career. I also share a story of how Hammett’s biographer played a role in me landing the gig as Ellroy’s biographer.
This is the last episode of Ellroy Reads I’ll film before I fly out to New York City this week, where Love Me Fierce in Danger: The Life of James Ellroy is up for Best Critical/Biographical Edgar Award. Wish me luck!
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ELLROY READS – ‘The Choirboys’ by Joseph Wambaugh
In the latest episode of Ellroy Reads I discuss Joseph Wambaugh’s seminal novel The Choirboys. I examine how Wambaugh’s police career in the LAPD, and his works of fiction and nonfiction had a profound impact on James Ellroy’s life and writing style. I also share some juicy anecdotes of the time I spent with both Wambaugh and Ellroy. I filmed this episode in beautiful Port Sunlight Village, which is one of my favourite places on earth.
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ELLROY READS – Libra by Don DeLillo
In the latest episode of Ellroy Reads I discuss Don DeLillo’s groundbreaking novel about Lee Harvey Oswald – Libra. The influence that Libra had on James Ellroy’s life cannot be overstated. It changed the course of his writing career and inspired him in ways that still resonate today.
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The Venetian Vase 