Book Club with James Ellroy, The Royal Institution

 The Black Dahlia is widely considered to be the book that elevated Ellroy out of genre fiction status and generated him critical attention as a serious writer of literature. The novel tells the story of a brutal murder of a wannabe starlet in Los Angeles, and the subsequent investigation.
Uncompromisingly dark and violent Ellroy’s neo-noir crime novel is part of his L.A. Quartet, which also includes L.A. Confidential, The Big Nowhere, and White Jazz. The Quartet has spawned a multitude of imitators but few equals.
A hard-boiled nihilist and subversive, the self-styled ‘Demon dog of American crime fiction’ is outspoken and unmitigated when speaking in public. Never afraid to say what he thinks, Ellroy will be discussing his work with Head of English at UCL John Mullan. Expect controversy as, “the white knight of the far-right”, talks about not only his abrasive and pessimistic writing style, but also the world view that led him to publish such brutal and unforgiving fiction.
With Perfidia, the first book of his second L.A. Quartet expected to be released in late 2014, we hope that Ellroy will reveal some more details about his upcoming novels, which are to be set in Los Angeles during the Second World War.