Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
Spelling/grammar fix(es)
Changed line(s) 5,6 (click to see context) from:
Dwight 'Bucky' Bleichert is a former middleweight boxer who got out of the fight game in order to join the L.A.P.D. What starts out as a friendly rivalry with fellow officer and also ex-fighter Lee Blanchard develops into a solid partnership. Things seem to be going well for the pair and a strong bond forms between both themselves and Blanchard's live in 'girlfriend' Kay Lake. The happy tripartite is broken apart by the horrific murder of a woman named Elizabeth Short in 1947. The victim, quickly labeled 'The Black Dahlia' by the press, begins to serve as an obsession for the detectives. Things quickly go [[FromBadtoWorse from bad to worse]].
to:
Dwight 'Bucky' Bleichert is a former middleweight boxer who got out of the fight game in order to join the L.A.P.D. What starts out as a friendly rivalry with fellow officer and also ex-fighter Lee Blanchard develops into a solid partnership. Things seem to be going well for the pair and a strong bond forms between both themselves and Blanchard's live in 'girlfriend' Kay Lake. The happy tripartite trio is broken apart by the horrific murder of a woman named Elizabeth Short in 1947. The victim, quickly labeled 'The Black Dahlia' by the press, begins to serve as an obsession for the detectives. Things quickly go [[FromBadtoWorse from bad to worse]].
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 45 (click to see context) from:
* PoliticallyCorrectHistory: The LA of ''The Black Dahlia'' begins with the Zoot Suit Riots between American Servicemen and Mexicans among other minorities. Our protagonists belong to the LAPD that is depicted as racist, homophobic, Antisemitic, and deeply committed to promoting white cops like our protagonists. The language of the book is also sprinkled with slurs throughout.
to:
* PoliticallyCorrectHistory: Horrifically averted. The LA of ''The Black Dahlia'' begins with the Zoot Suit Riots between American Servicemen and Mexicans among other minorities. Our protagonists belong to the LAPD that is depicted as racist, homophobic, Antisemitic, and deeply committed to promoting white cops like our protagonists. The language of the book is also sprinkled with slurs throughout.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
They Do is now a disambig page
Deleted line(s) 61 (click to see context) :
* TheyDo: [[spoiler: Kay and Bleichert marry after Lee's death. Their marriage is rocky until he solves Elizabeth Short's murder.]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* TheButlerDidIt: [[spoiler: Subverted in that Georgie Tilden the groundskeeper is just a scapegoat.]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 11 (click to see context) from:
* AllForNothing: [[spoiler: All of the hours and obsessive devotion to detective work Blanchard and Bleichert put into solving the Black Dahlia case proves to be completely pointless. Bleichert discovers the Black Dahlia's murder site because they're tearing down one of Sprague's houses as part of an unrelated real estate scandal.]]
to:
* AllForNothing: [[spoiler: All of the hours and obsessive devotion to detective work Blanchard and Bleichert put into solving the Black Dahlia case proves to be completely pointless. Bleichert discovers the Black Dahlia's murder site because they're tearing down one of Sprague's houses as part of an unrelated real estate scandal. {{Subverted}} in that breaking all the other relationships down requires some actual detecting by Bleichert.]]
Changed line(s) 13 (click to see context) from:
* ArtisticLicenseHistory: A murder that was never solved in real life is given a full conclusion.
to:
* ArtisticLicenseHistory: A murder that was never solved in real life is given a full conclusion. James Ellroy's Afterword also states that a large part of Elizabeth Short's characterization in the novel ranging from being promiscuous as well as starring in a pornographic movie were also inventions of the novel.
* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: The killer of the Black Dahlia is revealed to Ramona Sprague, who killed her with the help of Georgie Tilden out of jealousy for her sleeping with the latter. Ramona gets away with her crime but is dying of lupus and has already lost Georgie to Bleichert's hands. Lee Blanchard is also revealed to have been killed by Madeline Sprague but she ends up institutionalized at a mental hospital for ten years. Unfortunately, Bleichert is fired from the LAPD and the Black Dahlia murder is still unofficially unsolved. Bleichert does reconcile with Kay, however.]]
Changed line(s) 18 (click to see context) from:
* BoomHeadshot: [[spoiler:Koenig]] is shot in the face with a shotgun.
to:
* BoomHeadshot: BoomHeadshot:
** [[spoiler:Koenig]] is shot in the face with ashotgun.shotgun.
** [[spoiler: This is how Georgie Tilden dies.]]
** [[spoiler:Koenig]] is shot in the face with a
** [[spoiler: This is how Georgie Tilden dies.]]
Changed line(s) 34 (click to see context) from:
* LetOffByTheDetective: [[spoiler: Bleichert agrees not to mention Madeline Sprague in his reports in exchange for sex. Comes back to bite him in the ass big-time when the entire Sprague clan is revealed to have had a hand in the murder of the Dahlia, among other depravities.]]
to:
* LetOffByTheDetective: [[spoiler: Bleichert agrees not to mention Madeline Sprague in his reports in exchange for sex. Comes back to bite him in the ass big-time when the entire Sprague clan is revealed to have had a hand in the murder of the Dahlia, among other depravities. In the end, he doesn't even arrest Ramona Sprague, who actually murdered Elizabeth Short, because she's SecretlyDying.]]
Added DiffLines:
* NotBloodSiblings: [[spoiler: Emmett Sprague and his daughter Madeline have an intimate and quasi-sexual relationship due to the fact they're not biologically related. Madeline corrects that she's not had sex with her father, though.]]
Added DiffLines:
* TheyDo: [[spoiler: Kay and Bleichert marry after Lee's death. Their marriage is rocky until he solves Elizabeth Short's murder.]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* AllForNothing: [[spoiler: All of the hours and obsessive devotion to detective work Blanchard and Bleichert put into solving the Black Dahlia case proves to be completely pointless. Bleichert discovers the Black Dahlia's murder site because they're tearing down one of Sprague's houses as part of an unrelated real estate scandal.]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* TheSavageSouth: Tijuana is depicted as a barbaric place full of sex shows, prostitution, cops that make the LAPD look nice, and casual violence. Doubles as a WretchedHive.
Added DiffLines:
* SouthOfTheBorder: Part of the latter half of the book involves an extended trip to Tijuana in order to investigate [[spoiler: Lee Blanchard's disappearance.]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
On the Characters page already.
Deleted line(s) 11 (click to see context) :
* AlliterativeName: Bucky Bleichert.
Deleted line(s) 32,37 (click to see context) :
* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:Fritz Vogel]] after Bleichert exposes his crimes.
* DroppedABridgeOnHim: [[spoiler:Bill Koenig]] is killed in a random shooting incident completely disconnected from the main plot.
* DumbMuscle: Bill Koenig is both a muscular brute and a total moron.
--> '''Bleichert:''' No shit Sherlock.\\
'''Koenig:''' [[LiteralMinded My name's not Sherlock.]]\\
'''Bleichert:''' [[DeadpanSnarker No shit.]]
* DroppedABridgeOnHim: [[spoiler:Bill Koenig]] is killed in a random shooting incident completely disconnected from the main plot.
* DumbMuscle: Bill Koenig is both a muscular brute and a total moron.
--> '''Bleichert:''' No shit Sherlock.\\
'''Koenig:''' [[LiteralMinded My name's not Sherlock.]]\\
'''Bleichert:''' [[DeadpanSnarker No shit.]]
Added DiffLines:
* TakenOffTheCase: [[spoiler: Blanchard and Bleichert both get removed from the Black Dahlia case at various points. Blanchard for his increasingly over the top antics and reaction to a pornographic film starring Elizabeth Short while Bleichert gets removed for beating a teenage kid who confessed.]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 48 (click to see context) from:
* RacistGrandpa: Bleichert's father is a former member of the American Nazi Party. This causes Blechert a great deal of problems during [=WW2=] and prevents him from becoming a police officer until he has to rat out two of his Japanese friends.
to:
* RacistGrandpa: RacistGrandpa:
** Bleichert's father is a former member of the American Nazi Party. This causes Blechert a great deal of problems during [=WW2=] and prevents him from becoming a police officer until he has to rat out two of his Japanesefriends.friends.
** Madeline's father Emmett is an open Nazi sympathizer and wished the Allies had helped them fight against the Soviets.
** Bleichert's father is a former member of the American Nazi Party. This causes Blechert a great deal of problems during [=WW2=] and prevents him from becoming a police officer until he has to rat out two of his Japanese
** Madeline's father Emmett is an open Nazi sympathizer and wished the Allies had helped them fight against the Soviets.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* BigScrewedUpFamily: The Sprague family is one of the wealthiest in Los Angeles but is composed of a Nazi-sympathizing patriarch, a alcoholic Old Money matron who hates the poor, and two daughters with very ''strange'' behaviors. [[spoiler: That's before getting into their relationship to the Black Dahlia murder.]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* StockUnsolvedMysteries: Elizabeth Short's murder AKA The Black Dahlia case is the basis for the novel.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* QuestionableConsent: Bleichert accepts the offer of sex in exchange for suppressing evidence linking Madeline Sprague to the Elizabeth Short case. Before their first liaison, she starts acting like they've entered in a real relationship because her father likes him.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* SunshineNoir: Like the rest of ''Literature/TheLAQuartet'', it is set in a sleazy, dark, and corrupt version of Los Angeles in the 1940s with much of the violence taking place in broad daylight.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 53 (click to see context) from:
%% * TurnInYourBadge: Happens to [[spoiler: both Bleichert and Blanchard]].
to:
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* FamedInStory: Bleichert and Blanchard known as "Fire and Ice" due to the oddity of two well-liked former professional boxers serving in the same precinct. An exhibitionist boxing match between them also wins them a lot more fame as well as results in them being named partners.
* IfItBleedsItLeads: One of the reason the Black Dahlia case becomes a media circus is a beautiful woman horrifically murdered sells a lot of papers. The police notably foresees this but fails miserably in containing the story.
* IfItBleedsItLeads: One of the reason the Black Dahlia case becomes a media circus is a beautiful woman horrifically murdered sells a lot of papers. The police notably foresees this but fails miserably in containing the story.
Added DiffLines:
* PoliceAreUseless: The novel presents a zigzagged trope. The police are shown to be corrupt, possessed of SkewedPriorities, largely bigoted, often incompetant, and prone to PoliceBrutality. However, the police are shown to be necessary when dealing with real criminals like pedophiles and murderers like Nash.
Added DiffLines:
* SkewedPriorities: The LAPD puts 100 cops on the Black Dahlia case, including Bleichert and Blanchard due to their recent good publicity. This causes their other cases to grind to a halt and doesn't help matters as there's nothing more police will find out than a smaller number of trained specialists.
Added DiffLines:
* TwoGuysAndAGirl: Bleichert and Blanchard quickly become best friends while Kay Lake tags along. It is complicated because Bleichert is deeply attracted to Kay, possibly in love, and vice versa but she is (officially) with Blanchard. Bleichert actually avoids starting an affair as much to keep his friendship with Kay as well as not offending Blanchard.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
** Much of the difficulty the police run into regarding Elizabeth Short's murder comes from the fact their interviewees almost all engage in SlutShaming. The fact she casually dates many men is treated as something that brought her fate onto her, even from other young women.
Added DiffLines:
* SlutShaming: Elizabeth Short casually dated a large number of men and this is constantly brought up by her father, roommates, and landlady as a sign of her awful character. Attempts by the police to track down any of her boyfriends in hopes of finding the killer are stymied by witnesses just saying there were too many to count.
* SpeakIllOfTheDead: Elizabeth Short's roommates, father, land lady, and most of her boyfriends have very little good to say about her. Indeed, they often insult her promiscuity, lack of talent with money, and habit of making up white lies about how well her attempts at becoming an actress were going.
* SpeakIllOfTheDead: Elizabeth Short's roommates, father, land lady, and most of her boyfriends have very little good to say about her. Indeed, they often insult her promiscuity, lack of talent with money, and habit of making up white lies about how well her attempts at becoming an actress were going.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 21 (click to see context) from:
* CowboyCop: Played with. Both Bleichert and Blanchard are willing to shake down informants with threats, tamper with evidence, and wave their gun around at anyone who won't cooperate. They even threaten a woman's dog with Russian Roulete (the gun was unloaded). However, all of these tactics are tactily endorsed by the LAPD who don't care about what the protagonists do as long as they get results. When they accidentally end up killing four individuals they weren't even arresting, the LAPD uses the fact they were pot users as justification for their deaths.
to:
* ContrivedCoincidence: How Bleichert and Blanchard become involved in the Black Dahlia murder. They're investigating another murderer's home in the immediate area when they see the police gathered around a nearby field.
* CowboyCop: Played with. Both Bleichert and Blanchard are willing to shake down informants with threats, tamper with evidence, and wave their gun around at anyone who won't cooperate. They even threaten a woman's dog with Russian Roulete (the gun was unloaded). However, all of these tactics aretactily tacitly endorsed by the LAPD who don't care about what the protagonists do as long as they get results. When they accidentally end up killing four individuals they weren't even arresting, the LAPD uses the fact they were pot users as justification for their deaths.
* CruelAndUnusualDeath: Elizabeth Short was tortured for two days before she was disembowled and cut in half. This, of course, is TruthInTelevision.
* CowboyCop: Played with. Both Bleichert and Blanchard are willing to shake down informants with threats, tamper with evidence, and wave their gun around at anyone who won't cooperate. They even threaten a woman's dog with Russian Roulete (the gun was unloaded). However, all of these tactics are
* CruelAndUnusualDeath: Elizabeth Short was tortured for two days before she was disembowled and cut in half. This, of course, is TruthInTelevision.
Added DiffLines:
* YourApprovalFillsMeWithShame: Both Blanchard and Bleichert are disgusted by the media depicting their killing of four suspects as a heroic gunfight against evildoers. The reality being it was a spur of the moment escalation of force by both parties going horribly wrong.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* PaedoHunt: Bleichert and Blanchard love going after sex offenders because it is good publicity as well as morally complicated in their CrapsackWorld. Unfortunately, after successfully collaring one, they end up killing four (mostly innocent) bystanders while searching for a second one.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 35 (click to see context) from:
* MissingWhiteWomanSyndrome: Why the Black Dahlia murder becomes so infamous. The graphic nature of the crime combined with the fact it was a beautiful (white) woman is stated to be the reason the newspapers are all over the death. It is also why the department is giving it top priority as they wish to justify a recent budget increase.
to:
* MissingWhiteWomanSyndrome: Why A central theme of the novel and the real-life unsolved murder case on which it is partly based. In-universe, it is why the Black Dahlia murder becomes so infamous. The graphic nature of the crime combined with the fact it was a beautiful (white) woman is stated to be the reason the newspapers are all over the death. It is also why the department is giving it top priority as they wish to justify a recent budget increase.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* MissingWhiteWomanSyndrome: Why the Black Dahlia murder becomes so infamous. The graphic nature of the crime combined with the fact it was a beautiful (white) woman is stated to be the reason the newspapers are all over the death. It is also why the department is giving it top priority as they wish to justify a recent budget increase.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 24 (click to see context) from:
** Blanchard has suffered some career issues for living with Kay Lake. Not because she's a former CI of his but because living with a woman that isn't his wife is a against department policy that could get him fired.
to:
** Blanchard has suffered some career issues for living with Kay Lake. Not because she's a former CI of his but because living with a woman that isn't his wife is a against department policy that and could get him fired.
