L.A. Confidential

L.A. Confidential (1990) is neo-noir crime novel by James Ellroy, and the third of his L.A. Quartet series. The story is about Los Angeles policemen during the 1950s who are involved with a mixture of lies, sex, corruption, and murder following a mass murder at the Nite Owl coffee shop. The story eventually encompasses organized crime, political corruption, heroin, pornography, prostitution, tabloid journalism, institutional racism, plastic surge... more

L.A. Confidential (1990) is neo-noir crime novel by James Ellroy, and the third of his L.A. Quartet series. The story is about Los Angeles policemen during the 1950s who are involved with a mixture of lies, sex, corruption, and murder following a mass murder at the Nite Owl coffee shop. The story eventually encompasses organized crime, political corruption, heroin, pornography, prostitution, tabloid journalism, institutional racism, plastic surgery, and Hollywood. The novel's title refers to the infamous 1950s scandal magazine Confidential, which was fictionalized as Hush-Hush magazine in the novel (although a tabloid magazine called Hush-Hush also existed during 1950s). Jack Vincennes is a likable Hollywood police officer who works part-time as the technical adviser for Badge of Honor, a popular Dragnet-like television show. Vincennes is associated with Hush-Hush: He receives hefty payoffs for making orchestrated celebrity arrests, often involving narcotics, that will attract even... less