My Dark Places by James Ellroy is part murder mystery and part biography. For people wondering how Ellroy can write so wonderfully about Los Angeles in the 1950’s, you’ll see that he lived through it. The seedy places and heartbreak that were hidden by the Dragnet sheen and are depicted in Ellroy’s L.A. Quartet are shown here, only in real life. Because James Ellroy’s mother was murdered in 1958 Los Angeles and it affected his life and writing.

In 1958 James Ellroy was living with his mother Jean in a not-so-nice area of Los Angeles. Jean had divorced his father Armand some years earlier and was living the single mom life. Ellroy hated that life and idealized his father. For good or bad, he wanted to live with his father, but the judge ruled that he had to live a dual life: 5 days with his mom and 2 days with his dad each week. Ellroy was 10 when Jean Ellroy was murdered and he was initially happy about it. He would now get to live with his dad full time.

The murder affected Ellroy deeply, even if he tried to run from it. Ellroy ended up dropping out of high school because of drinking and delinquent behavior. He tried joining the army, but it didn’t work out. After years of problems, he found himself at a low point and decided to stop drinking. He got himself a job as a caddy and would write novels by night.

He wrote six novels and was getting a decent following when he decided to write about The Black Dahlia murder. The murder was so similar to his mother’s murder that he found himself fully immersed in a world that he lived while writing about a woman he never met. In 1994, Ellroy’s decided to investigate his mother’s murder. He hired a private investigator to help him research the case and find out who killed his mother. The book My Dark Places covers his mother’s biography, his autobiography and his search for his mother’s killer. It’s a powerful book that has echo’s of his novels, but is all too true. Highly recommended.