A review by 2000ace
My Dark Places: An L.A. Crime Memoir by James Ellroy

5.0

I love James Ellroy because he is so tough, so resilient, and has such a tender heart. The legatee of the hardboiled L.A. dicks of pulp fiction, Ellroy's true life story is not hardboiled, but hardbitten. The murder of his mother when he was a child, his fascination with [b:the Black Dahlia|21704|The Black Dahlia|James Ellroy|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1167323078s/21704.jpg|434] case, his knockabout childhood, all contribute to making him the fine writer he is today. Writing saved his life, and his writing has haunted mine.