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.
Find out more below, and please comment, share, subscribe etc.
Namaste Mart Confidential is the debut novel of Andrew Miller. It tells the story of Adam Minor and Richie Walsh, two buddies who work at Namaste Mart, a hippie grocery store in West Hollywood. By day they contend with the celebrities, hipsters and cult members that make up about half the LA populace. By night and in their spare time, Adam and Richie supplement their income by working as unlicensed private investigators. The two friends are good at what they do, but a new case is going to test their survival skills to the limit.
Joan Goldman was an action movie star of the 1980s, who now runs a chain of high-end lingerie stores. One of her top employees, Shayla Ramsey, has gone missing and she wants the boys to find them. On the trail of Shayla, Adam and Richie encounter vengeful Armenian gangsters and sex-crazed Mormon polygamists. It’s enough to make them wish they stayed in the grocery business…
Namaste Mart Confidential is a terrific novel. It’s funny, sexy, suspenseful and always keeps you turning the page. Andrew Miller knows his noir and, judging by his debut, is going to achieve great things in the genre. I spoke to Andrew about the writing of the novel.
Interviewer: Tell me a little bit about the genesis of Namaste Mart Confidential. What drove you to tell this story?
The time had come to write something personal. I had published numerous short stories and one novella in a book called L.A. Stories. This new project would be a novel. It was the second year of the pandemic, and I’d begun to really notice how much Los Angeles had changed since I’d been living here, a great deal of it for the worse. I could recall an older version of the city that was gone now. I’ve never been a detective (or wanted to be one). I’m not a tough guy. But I asked my good friend, the stand-up comedian and actor Mike Whelan, if I could turn him into a character for a novel, one that would feature fictional versions of us as detectives. Mike is not a shy man. He isn’t scared of much or embarrassed easily—imagine Bud White doing ten minutes of stand-up at the Comedy Store on the Sunset Strip, then you might get a reasonable picture of who he is. Mike said yes. This was when I envisioned it all—my life, and Mike’s—wildly inserted into a hardboiled fantasy fever dream of a P.I. crime novel, set in the long-gone world of L.A. in 2013. After that, I felt driven to begin writing.
Interviewer: We are both James Ellroy fanatics. Could you describe Ellroy’s influence on your understanding of the genre, and name some of your influences as crime writers.
I first saw the movie of L.A. Confidential twice in the theater during its first run when I was in the seventh grade. I was enthralled. The VHS came out, and I remember watching the Making Of documentary at the end. When it arrived at the guy who wrote the original book, he looked right in the camera with intense, beady eyes, and said, “My book is unconstrainable, uncontainable, and unadaptable.” While all the Hollywood people looked and behaved in the pleasant, agreeable way they were supposed to these videos, this Ellroy guy came off like a maniac. Was he a maniac? I bought the original novel, and it floored me. That’s when I knew I wanted to be a writer. The next Ellroy book I read was American Tabloid. During my junior year of high school I was in an AV course, something cutting edge at the time, which demanded a long video project to be turned in at the end of the year. My teachers approved me making a feature-length, black and white, R-rated VHS adaptation. I had my high school buddies playing Pete, Ward, Kemper, Hoffa, JFK.
Much of my outlook during these formative years–-not just about writing, but even of the world at large—was shaped by Ellroy’s novels. I am influenced by his vision of history, the passion and dedication he puts into his craft, the inspirational life he has led, his willingness to go against the grain, and, of course, his legendary sense of humor. He got me to see that hardboiled crime fiction can be great literature and great fun simultaneously. His line from the opening of American Tabloid was with me often as I wrote Namaste Mart Confidential. “Only a reckless verisimilitude can set that line straight.” Outlandish fiction and truth are blended recklessly in my book.
As for other influences, many of the hardboiled greats—Hammett, MacDonald, and Chandler, are all important to me. Dan Fante, the son of L.A. legend John Fante, wrote a terrific P.I. novel called Point Doom, which was a major influence.
Interviewer: The novel features funny and iconoclastic portrayals of the Armenian Mafia and the Mormon Church. How much research did you do on these topics, and as a novelist how bound did you feel to the facts?
I’ve always been fascinated by the Mormons, but I don’t know many, so there was quite a bit of research there. Joseph Smith lived a fascinating life. I spoke to some ex-Mormons, and I read books like No Man Knows My History by Fawn Brodie, Rough Stone Rolling by Richard Bushman, and of course, Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer. Crime fiction fans will enjoy Prophet’s Prey, by the Mormon P.I. Sam Brower. It’s his true-life account of his years-long investigations into the Jeffs family and the FLDS, which is probably the most powerful and insidious Mormon polygamist cult still operating today. Since I encountered so many true stories in these books that were far more fantastic than anything I wanted in the novel, I felt completely justified if I needed to stray from the facts for the sake of telling a good story.
As for the Armenian Mob, they’ve been an ongoing presence in L.A. for a while. Many of the younger Armenian gangsters who arrived in L.A. well after the fall of the Soviet Union adopted the L.A. cholo persona, which I always found entertaining. I’ve seen them around, and heard stories. This story line didn’t require as much research. While I don’t plan to get into the habit of clarifying what’s real in the book and what isn’t, it’s been public knowledge for years that my friend Mike, mentioned above, had a real-life confrontation with the Armenian Mob that I recounted accurately near the end of chapter four.
Interviewer: There are some funny celebrity cameos in the novel by Drea DeMatteo and Charles Martin Smith. How did you want to portray the cult of celebrity in Los Angeles?
I get what you mean when you say “cult” but I don’t think of it that way. In L.A., celebrities are just around. I wanted to show them as real people, going about their lives. Encounters with them can be incredibly interesting, but just as often they can be mundane. For the most part, L.A. celebrities seem genuinely grateful to have been noticed, especially actors.
Interviewer: Finally, what are your future writing plans?
Looking directly ahead, I plan to focus on promoting this book as much as possible. There will be a short story collection. I want someone to make Namaste Mart Confidential into a movie. It would be a superb one in the right hands. I’m working on my next novel, which will be bigger, and set in Pasadena in the late ‘50s. I’m going to expand my darkly comic, tragic, and ultimately hopeful vision into many more crime novels.
Namaste Mart Confidential is published by Run Amok Crime
ELLROY READS – ‘The Deceivers’ by John D MacDonald
In the latest episode of Ellroy Reads I look at John D. MacDonald’s novel about adultery The Deceivers. Ellroy usually names crime novels as his biggest inspirations, but MacDonald’s domestic drama about the social mores of 1950s America had a profound affect on him. Find out why in the video below.
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Highbrow Lowbrow: Comedy Special
The latest episode of Highbrow Lowbrow is a comedy special. My pick is Peter Bogdanovich’s hilarious adaptation of Michael Frayn’s classic stage farce Noises Off.
My podcast co-host Dan’s choice is the romantic comedy The Tall Guy. Adapted from a Richard Curtis script, Dan argues this overlooked gem features Curtis’s best ever writing.
You can listen to the full episode here.
Ellroy Reads – Mrs Paine’s Garage by Thomas Mallon
In the latest episode of Ellroy Reads I look at Mrs Paine’s Garage by Thomas Mallon. This is the first non-fiction book I have covered on Ellroy Reads. It’s a vitally important work that has had a profound affect on Ellroy’s thinking, as it converted him from a conspiratorial view of the Kennedy assassination to one that embraced the lone gunman theory. This impacts how we read Ellroy’s novels today, and how his writing continues to evolve.
I’m not trying to convert anyone myself, but I ask that you leave your preconceptions of the JFK assassination at the door and give Mrs Paine’s Garage a try. It’s a brilliant read.
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Highbrow Lowbrow: Martin Scorsese Edition
The latest episode of Highbrow Lowbrow takes a look at the work of one of the greatest film directors of all time – Martin Scorsese. My pick is The Age of Innocence. Scorsese’s sumptuous adaptation of Edith Wharton’s novel was considered an odd career departure at the time of its release. But I argue that its themes of class structure and division are central to all of Scorsese’s films, particularly those with a New York setting.
My podcast co-host Dan Slattery’s choice is Bringing Out the Dead. Overlooked at the time of release, Dan’s argues that the film is more than just a Taxi Driver remake with ambulances.
You can listen to the full episode here.
Chicago ’63: Interview with Author Terrence McCauley
Chicago ’63 is the gripping new novella by Terrence McCauley. If you think you have already read everything there is to read about the assassination of President Kennedy then think again. McCauley sheds new light on the infamous event by focusing on a plot to kill Kennedy in Chicago. It took place one month before Kennedy was shot dead in Dallas.
The protagonist of this story is Secret Service agent Abraham Golden, a thinly-veiled version of the real-life Abraham Bolden, who was the first African-American to be assigned to the Presidential Protective Division. Golden uncovers the Chicago plot but finds his investigative work is undermined by racism and institutionalised corruption from the start.
McCauley mixes fact and fiction seamlessly in Chicago ’63. It’s a riveting read and I was delighted when Terrence agreed to talk to me about the writing of the book.
Interviewer: Describe your earliest memories of the Kennedy assassination.
I wasn’t born until 1974, so everything I know about the assassination came from second-hand knowledge. My father had vivid memories of the event. On November 22, 1963, he had just returned home from a hunting trip when he learned JFK had been assassinated. He was watching television on November 24th when Oswald was shot on live television.
He was always interested in the assassination. He was also a classic movie fan, so I grew up watching “The Manchurian Candidate” with Frank Sinatra, “Seven Days in May” with Burt Lancaster, and “Executive Action”, also with Burt Lancaster.
We didn’t have cable TV where we lived in New York City, but I watched several documentaries on PBS and ABC News that covered the assassination in detail. “The Men Who Killed Kennedy” was probably the first documentary I saw that challenged the opinion that Oswald worked alone. My father never believed the lone gunman theory, either, though he didn’t spend much time wondering who else was involved. I suppose his doubts about the Warren Report conclusion stuck with me.
Interviewer: When did you first become interested in approaching the Kennedy assassination through fiction?
Everything I’ve written, whether it’s a thriller or a crime novel or a western, usually addresses the broader issues of control and mores at play in American society. Our lives rarely move in a straight line. There are always diversions and pitfalls and mistakes that alter our course. Society and government’s attitude at the time further dictate the cost of those choices and often our immutable conditions. For example, children born out of wedlock were once deemed illegitimate. Inter-racial marriages were frowned upon and illegal in some parts of the country. So was homosexuality. The unfortunate list goes on.
After graduating college, I began a career in government. I quickly realized the myths of the ‘hyper-prepared government’ and the ‘ever-incompetent government’ were equally incorrect. Government certainly has its place but is often reactionary and rarely proactive.
I wanted to address that dynamic in my fiction because, in my view, government and social norms impact our daily lives, whether the story is set in 1880s Montana, 1920s Manhattan, or the modern day.
As my voice as a writer took form, my earlier interest in the Kennedy Assassination continued to intrigue me. I never thought it was a plot entirely engineered by a government entity, but the lone gunman theory didn’t seem plausible, either. I read many nonfiction works on the subject and took note of the various theories. Some resonated more than others.
But when I read Ellroy’s ‘Underworld U.S.A.’ trilogy, it was the first time I saw an artist’s take on the event. Those books went beyond the television screen of documentaries or the factual interpretation of the events and focused on the human aspect of what happened in Dallas. That changed everything for me. The more one examines Oswald and the other players as people, the story takes on an entirely different meaning. Possibilities and probabilities become evident. That’s interesting to me.
I’ve been blessed to be able to write in various genres, but I never stopped looking for a way to portray the assassination in my own way. Ellroy’s fiction covered the sprawling web and motivations of the characters better than I ever could. I decided to tell the story from a different, more local angle where famous characters of Dallas were portrayed in a realistic light. That’s how my upcoming DALLAS ‘63 trilogy was born and, from that, CHICAGO ’63 rose.
Interviewer: The ‘Chicago Plot’ is a fascinating untold story in US history, but the facts are still sketchy and elusive. How did you approach researching this event?
I’m not an academic. I’m just an amateur historian with a hyper-active imagination. I’ve always had a passive interest in conspiracy theories, though I’ve dismissed most of them. I believe ancient aliens, Bigfoot and UFOs usually have practical explanations.
But the Kennedy Assassination is not so easily dismissed once one examines the people involved in the saga. My interest in conspiracy theories led me to discover the ‘America’s Untold Stories’ channel on YouTube where the hosts regularly drill down into the tertiary events and people found on the fringes of the assassination. Mark Groubert and Eric Hunley don’t ask the audience to take their word for it but encourage viewers to do their own research. One episode mentioned the ‘Chicago Plot’ and I began to do some digging on my own.
My research unveiled some shocking facts, some written only ten years after the assassination when memories were still fresh and participants still alive. I discovered reports about four Cuban men with scoped rifles in a boarding house near the president’s motorcade route. I learned of Homer Echevarria’s connection to anti-Castro groups in Chicago and of Thomas Vallee’s arrest on November 2, 1963. I used that overactive imagination I mentioned earlier to craft a plausible story that shapes these events into a novella. I don’t claim that the conclusions of CHICAGO ’63 are irrefutable, but I used facts to tell a convincing, plausible story. I think of it as a work of fiction firmly rooted in reality.
Interviewer: Abraham Bolden is a fascinating real-life character who, if fate hadn’t conspired against him, would probably be regarded as an American hero today. Do you think he was a victim of the system, and how much of the real Bolden was in your character Abraham Golden?
As a novelist, I knew that stories like CHICAGO ’63 often fail when too many characters are involved. The reader can get confused and lose interest. I chose to make Bolden the main protagonist of the story because it made narrative sense. It also allowed me to show how limited the Secret Service’s resources were at the time. They had no choice but to have other agencies like Chicago PD and the FBI to assist them with threat assessments.
I boiled down those investigators into my fictional Abraham Golden. As the real-life Bolden was a hero in his own right – the first African-American Secret Service agent assigned to the president’s protection detail – I thought he was a worthy candidate.
My constant desire to always portray social realities of the time in which my books are set led me to want my protagonist to be a black man. I wanted the reader to see how much of a trailblazer Bolden really was through the lens of my fictional Golden. I wanted to demonstrate how the deck was stacked against him, but he persevered.
In reality, his involvement in the assassination saga did not come until much later when he tried to inform the Warren Commission of the earlier Chicago plot. He later paid the price for it by being unjustly convicted of a bribery charge where he spent several years in prison. He was justly pardoned by President Biden in 2022.
I couldn’t properly convey his bravery in the scope of a limited work of a novella, so I boiled it down into a timeline that lasted only a few days. And while CHICAGO ’63 is a work of fiction, I sought to capture his obvious dedication to duty as best I could in my own way.
Interviewer: Finally, do you anticipate any new revelations emerging about the Kennedy assassination in the next few years? Are there any lingering mysteries about the event?
Thanks to the movement created in the aftermath of Oliver Stone’s ‘JFK’ film, many unclassified documents have been released since the 1990s. There are still a few documents that have not been released, but I believe even a casual examination of the case explains why.
I don’t think we’ll find that LBJ and the CIA were behind it all from the beginning. I don’t think you’ll see a photo of someone else firing a rifle in Dealey Plaza that day.
Instead, I think we’ll have no choice but to cobble together a theory from increased research into the people who appear on the edges of the event. Jack Ruby may not have been Al Capone, but he wasn’t just a crazy nightclub owner, either. Oswald has been proven to be involved with some unsavoury characters with undeniable ties to the intelligence world. J. Edgar Hoover is on record as saying there was more to him than met the eye. Senator Richard Schweiker, a member of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence said that “everywhere you look with [Oswald], there’re fingerprints of intelligence”.
I think the truth lies somewhere between the hyper-prepared government and the ineffective government extremes I mentioned earlier. I think a few people from the underworld and rogue government affiliates had the means and motive to assassinate the president and did so. Definitive conclusions may not be possible, but it provides fertile ground for over-active imaginations like mine to flourish.
Ellroy Reads – The Digger’s Game by George V. Higgins
In the latest episode of Ellroy Reads I look at The Digger’s Game by George V. Higgins. I argue that Higgins’ Boston noir dialogue-driven narratives have been a major influence on Ellroy’s writing style, and why Higgins was once the rising star of American crime fiction but never quite fulfilled his commercial potential.
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The Venetian Vase 