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He's also known for public appearances full of RefugeInAudacity, [[{{Troll}} trolling]], BrutalHonesty, [[UnreliableExpositor unreliable exposition]] and for maintaining a SmallNameBigEgo that makes other narcissists fume with envy. And while he seems to espouse right-wing beliefs, he seems to do so only "...to fuck with people.". Make of that as you will.[[note]] [[http://venetianvase.co.uk/2013/08/03/james-ellroy-tory-mystic/ In his more "serious" moments, though,]] he's described himself as a "Tory mystic" and has expressed admiration for RonaldReagan and vehement contempt for Bill Clinton.[[/note]]
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He's also known for public appearances full of RefugeInAudacity, [[{{Troll}} trolling]], BrutalHonesty, [[UnreliableExpositor unreliable exposition]] and for maintaining a SmallNameBigEgo that makes other narcissists fume with envy. And while he seems to espouse right-wing beliefs, he seems to do so only "...to fuck with people.". Make of that as you will.[[note]] [[http://venetianvase.co.uk/2013/08/03/james-ellroy-tory-mystic/ In his more "serious" moments, though,]] he's described himself as a "Tory mystic" and has expressed admiration for RonaldReagan UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan and vehement contempt for Bill Clinton.[[/note]]
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He's also known for public appearances full of RefugeInAudacity, [[{{Troll}} trolling]], BrutalHonesty, [[UnreliableExpositor unreliable exposition]] and for maintaining a SmallNameBigEgo that makes other narcissists fume with envy. And while he seems to espouse right-wing beliefs, he seems to do so only "...to fuck with people.". Make of that as you will.
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He's also known for public appearances full of RefugeInAudacity, [[{{Troll}} trolling]], BrutalHonesty, [[UnreliableExpositor unreliable exposition]] and for maintaining a SmallNameBigEgo that makes other narcissists fume with envy. And while he seems to espouse right-wing beliefs, he seems to do so only "...to fuck with people.". Make of that as you will.
will.[[note]] [[http://venetianvase.co.uk/2013/08/03/james-ellroy-tory-mystic/ In his more "serious" moments, though,]] he's described himself as a "Tory mystic" and has expressed admiration for RonaldReagan and vehement contempt for Bill Clinton.[[/note]]
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* BadAss: Pete Bondurant, the physically imposing (6 feet 4 inches and muscular 230 pounds), chain-smoking, laconic ex-Marine, ex-cop, licensed PI, extortionist extraordinaire and a freelance Mafia hitman [[spoiler: is arguably a rather vicious deconstruction of this trope. By the time of ''The Cold Six Thousand'' he is an emotional and physical wreck (he goes through a brain tumor and two heart attacks over the course of the story), wanting nothing more than to retire to a life of peace and quiet with his wife.]] Ellroy being Ellroy, [[spoiler: he actually [[EarnYourHappyEnding gets his wish]] but boy howdy, does he have to jump through the hoops for it.]]
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* BadAss: {{Badass}}: Pete Bondurant, the physically imposing (6 feet 4 inches and muscular 230 pounds), chain-smoking, laconic ex-Marine, ex-cop, licensed PI, extortionist extraordinaire and a freelance Mafia hitman [[spoiler: is arguably a rather vicious deconstruction of this trope. By the time of ''The Cold Six Thousand'' he is an emotional and physical wreck (he goes through a brain tumor and two heart attacks over the course of the story), wanting nothing more than to retire to a life of peace and quiet with his wife.]] Ellroy being Ellroy, [[spoiler: he actually [[EarnYourHappyEnding gets his wish]] but boy howdy, does he have to jump through the hoops for it.]]
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His books include lots of {{Black and Grey Morality}} and {{Deliberate Values Dissonance}}, as well as {{Loads And Loads Of Characters}}. Particularly well-known is his "L.A. Quartet" - ''The Black Dahlia'', ''The Big Nowhere'', ''Literature/LAConfidential'', and ''Literature/WhiteJazz''.
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His books include lots of {{Black and Grey Morality}} and {{Deliberate Values Dissonance}}, as well as {{Loads And Loads Of Characters}}. Particularly well-known is his "L.A. Quartet" - ''The Black Dahlia'', ''Film/TheBlackDahlia'', ''The Big Nowhere'', ''Literature/LAConfidential'', and ''Literature/WhiteJazz''.
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** LoveTriangles involving two cops and a hooker.
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He's also known for public appearances full of RefugeInAudacity, [[{{Troll}} trolling]], BrutalHonesty, [[UnreliableExpositor unreliable exposition]] and for maintaining a SmallNameBigEgo that makes other narcissists fume with envy. And while he seems to espouse right-wing beliefs, he seems to do so only "...to fuck with people.". Make of that as you will.
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* ColdWar: The setting for most of the Underworld USA Trilogy, specifically the early 60s-70s. Plus, ''The Big Nowhere'' features a subplot about a cop inflitrating a Communist group.
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* ColdWar: UsefulNotes/ColdWar: The setting for most of the Underworld USA Trilogy, specifically the early 60s-70s. Plus, ''The Big Nowhere'' features a subplot about a cop inflitrating a Communist group.
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His books include lots of {{Black and Grey Morality}} and {{Deliberate Values Dissonance}}, as well as {{Loads And Loads Of Characters}}. Particularly well-known is his "L.A. Quartet" - ''The Big Nowhere'', ''The Black Dahlia'', ''Literature/LAConfidential'', and ''Literature/WhiteJazz''.
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His books include lots of {{Black and Grey Morality}} and {{Deliberate Values Dissonance}}, as well as {{Loads And Loads Of Characters}}. Particularly well-known is his "L.A. Quartet" - ''The Big Nowhere'', ''The Black Dahlia'', ''The Big Nowhere'', ''Literature/LAConfidential'', and ''Literature/WhiteJazz''.
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** Though Bucky's name is actually Dwight.
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** Though Bucky's name is actually Dwight.Dwight, and Wendell goes by Bud.
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* MrAltDisney: * MrAltDisney: Raymond Dieterling, founder of Dream-a-Dream Land in the ''L.A. Quartet''.
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* FaceHeelTurn: Ward Littell in ''American Tabloid'' and Wayne Tedrow, Jr. in ''The Cold Six Thousand''.
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* FaceHeelTurn: Ward Littell in ''American Tabloid'' and Tabloid'', Wayne Tedrow, Jr. in ''The Cold Six Thousand''.Thousand'', [[spoiler: Hideo Ashida]] in ''Perfidia''.
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* HeroKiller: Dudley Smith hounds [[spoiler: Upshaw]] into committing suicide and personally guns down [[spoiler: Buzz Meeks]]
* HilariousInHindsight: One of Ellroy's appearances on the Conan O'Brien show had him joking about starting an equal opportunity Ku Klux Klan in Kansas City, where he was living with his (now ex) wife at the time. One of the fellow guests on that particular interview was DaveChappelle, who would later go on to do a skit about a Black White Supremacist who didn't know he was Black, because he was also blind.
* HilariousInHindsight: One of Ellroy's appearances on the Conan O'Brien show had him joking about starting an equal opportunity Ku Klux Klan in Kansas City, where he was living with his (now ex) wife at the time. One of the fellow guests on that particular interview was DaveChappelle, who would later go on to do a skit about a Black White Supremacist who didn't know he was Black, because he was also blind.
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* HeroKiller: Dudley Smith hounds [[spoiler: Upshaw]] into committing suicide and personally guns down [[spoiler: Buzz Meeks]]
* HilariousInHindsight: One of Ellroy's appearances on the Conan O'Brien show had him joking about starting an equal opportunity Ku Klux Klan in Kansas City, where he was living with his (now ex) wife at the time. One of the fellow guests on that particular interview was DaveChappelle, who would later go on to do a skit about a Black White Supremacist who didn't know he was Black, because he was also blind.Meeks]].
* HilariousInHindsight: One of Ellroy's appearances on the Conan O'Brien show had him joking about starting an equal opportunity Ku Klux Klan in Kansas City, where he was living with his (now ex) wife at the time. One of the fellow guests on that particular interview was DaveChappelle, who would later go on to do a skit about a Black White Supremacist who didn't know he was Black, because he was also blind.
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* HoYay: Quite a bit of it occurs between Danny Upshaw and Mal Considine. Not that surprising if you consider Danny's in the closet...
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* SlashedThroat: how [[spoiler: Upshaw]] kills himself. Ear to ear in one cut
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* SlashedThroat: how How [[spoiler: Upshaw]] kills himself. Ear to ear in one cutcut.
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* {{Who Shot JFK}}: and Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy. In ''American Tabloid'' and ''The Cold Six Thousand''.
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* {{Who Shot JFK}}: and Also Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy. In ''American Tabloid'' and ''The Cold Six Thousand''.
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* ''Clandestine''-Notable for introducing a lot of elements that would surface later on in the first L.A. Quartet. Also features the first non-canonical appearance of {{Magnificent Bastard}} Dudley Smith. Almost reads as something of a prototype for the future first book in the L.A. Quartet ''The Black Dahlia''.
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* ''Clandestine''-Notable for introducing a lot of elements that would surface later on in the first L.A. Quartet. Also features the first non-canonical appearance of {{Magnificent Bastard}} Dudley Smith. Almost reads as something of a prototype for the future first book in the L.A. Quartet ''The Black Dahlia''.
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* MrAltDisney: * MrAltDisney: Raymond Dieterling, founder of Dream-a-Dream Land in the ''L.A. Quartet''.
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His books include lots of {{Black and Grey Morality}} and {{Deliberate Values Dissonance}}, as well as {{Loads And Loads Of Characters}}. Particularly well-known is his "L.A. Quartet" - ''The Big Nowhere'', ''Literature/The Black Dahlia'', ''Literature/LAConfidential'', and ''Literature/WhiteJazz''.
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His books include lots of {{Black and Grey Morality}} and {{Deliberate Values Dissonance}}, as well as {{Loads And Loads Of Characters}}. Particularly well-known is his "L.A. Quartet" - ''The Big Nowhere'', ''Literature/The ''The Black Dahlia'', ''Literature/LAConfidential'', and ''Literature/WhiteJazz''.
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His books include lots of {{Black and Grey Morality}} and {{Deliberate Values Dissonance}}, as well as {{Loads And Loads Of Characters}}. Particularly well-known is his "L.A. Quartet" - ''The Big Nowhere'', ''The Black Dahlia'', ''Literature/LAConfidential'', and ''Literature/WhiteJazz''.
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His books include lots of {{Black and Grey Morality}} and {{Deliberate Values Dissonance}}, as well as {{Loads And Loads Of Characters}}. Particularly well-known is his "L.A. Quartet" - ''The Big Nowhere'', ''The ''Literature/The Black Dahlia'', ''Literature/LAConfidential'', and ''Literature/WhiteJazz''.
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Ellroy's first novels, written while caddying was still his full-time occupation. Accordingly golfing motifs appear quite frequently.
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* ''Clandestine''-Notable for introducing a lot of elements that would surface later on in the first L.A. Quartet. Also features the first non-canonical appearance of {{Magnificent Bastard}} Dudley Smith.
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* ''Clandestine''-Notable for introducing a lot of elements that would surface later on in the first L.A. Quartet. Also features the first non-canonical appearance of {{Magnificent Bastard}} Dudley Smith. Almost reads as something of a prototype for the future first book in the L.A. Quartet ''The Black Dahlia''.
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* ''Blood's a Rover''
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* ''Blood's a Rover''Rover''
!!!Second L.A. Quartet
A prequel of sorts to the events of the first L.A. Quartet. The narrative focus shifts back down a gear from the grand stage set by the Underworld U.S.A Trilogy, once again focusing on L.A. However, a distinct difference lies in the fact that the novels all take place in wartime America. Many characters from the first Quartet make appearances as is to be expected. Spans from 1942 to presumably 1945.
*''Perfidia''
!!!Second L.A. Quartet
A prequel of sorts to the events of the first L.A. Quartet. The narrative focus shifts back down a gear from the grand stage set by the Underworld U.S.A Trilogy, once again focusing on L.A. However, a distinct difference lies in the fact that the novels all take place in wartime America. Many characters from the first Quartet make appearances as is to be expected. Spans from 1942 to presumably 1945.
*''Perfidia''
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* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: Michael Martin Plunkett. Former ChildProdigy and a SerialKiller.
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* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: Michael Martin Plunkett. Former ChildProdigy and a SerialKiller.SerialKiller.
!!Works by Ellroy
!!!Stand Alone Novels
*''Brown's Requiem''
*''Clandestine''-Notable for introducing a lot of elements that would surface later on in the first L.A. Quartet. Also features the first non-canonical appearance of {{Magnificent Bastard}} Dudley Smith.
*''Killer on the Road''
!!!Lloyd Hopkins Trilogy
Follows the exploits of a brilliant but unfaithful LAPD Sergeant named Lloyd Hopkins in 1980s Los Angeles.
*''Blood on the Moon''
*''Because the Night''
*''Suicide Hill''
!!!L.A. Quartet
Perhaps the most famous collection of books by Ellroy, tied with the Underworld U.S.A. trilogy. Centers on the corruption and criminality of L.A. during it's golden age. Spans from 1947 to 1959.
*''The Black Dahlia''
*''The Big Nowhere''
*''L.A. Confidential''
*''White Jazz''
!!!Underworld U.S.A Trilogy
More or less follows directly on from the L.A. Quartet, at least chronologically speaking. Has a much grander theatrical scale to it though, dealing with espionage and the dirty dealings of the United States as a whole. Several characters briefly mentioned in the L.A. Quartet also reappear in a much more prominent role. Spans from 1958 to 1972.
*''American Tabloid''
*''The Cold Six Thousand''
*''Blood's a Rover''
!!Works by Ellroy
!!!Stand Alone Novels
*''Brown's Requiem''
*''Clandestine''-Notable for introducing a lot of elements that would surface later on in the first L.A. Quartet. Also features the first non-canonical appearance of {{Magnificent Bastard}} Dudley Smith.
*''Killer on the Road''
!!!Lloyd Hopkins Trilogy
Follows the exploits of a brilliant but unfaithful LAPD Sergeant named Lloyd Hopkins in 1980s Los Angeles.
*''Blood on the Moon''
*''Because the Night''
*''Suicide Hill''
!!!L.A. Quartet
Perhaps the most famous collection of books by Ellroy, tied with the Underworld U.S.A. trilogy. Centers on the corruption and criminality of L.A. during it's golden age. Spans from 1947 to 1959.
*''The Black Dahlia''
*''The Big Nowhere''
*''L.A. Confidential''
*''White Jazz''
!!!Underworld U.S.A Trilogy
More or less follows directly on from the L.A. Quartet, at least chronologically speaking. Has a much grander theatrical scale to it though, dealing with espionage and the dirty dealings of the United States as a whole. Several characters briefly mentioned in the L.A. Quartet also reappear in a much more prominent role. Spans from 1958 to 1972.
*''American Tabloid''
*''The Cold Six Thousand''
*''Blood's a Rover''
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His books include lots of {{Black and Grey Morality}} and {{Deliberate Values Dissonance}}, as well as {{Loads And Loads Of Characters}}. Particularly well-known is his "L.A. Quartet" - ''The Big Nowhere'', ''The Black Dahlia'', ''Literature/LAConfidential'', and ''White Jazz''.
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His books include lots of {{Black and Grey Morality}} and {{Deliberate Values Dissonance}}, as well as {{Loads And Loads Of Characters}}. Particularly well-known is his "L.A. Quartet" - ''The Big Nowhere'', ''The Black Dahlia'', ''Literature/LAConfidential'', and ''White Jazz''.
''Literature/WhiteJazz''.
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** [[spoiler: Preston Exley]] has aspects of this in ''Literature/LAConfidential''.
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* {{Berserk Button}}: Do not beat up women when Bud White is around.
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His books include lots of {{Black and Grey Morality}} and {{Deliberate Values Dissonance}}, as well as {{Loads And Loads Of Characters}}.
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His books include lots of {{Black and Grey Morality}} and {{Deliberate Values Dissonance}}, as well as {{Loads And Loads Of Characters}}.
Characters}}. Particularly well-known is his "L.A. Quartet" - ''The Big Nowhere'', ''The Black Dahlia'', ''Literature/LAConfidential'', and ''White Jazz''.
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* {{Alliterative Name}}: He loves these. Wendell White, Ed Exley and Pierce Patchitt in ''LA Confidential'', Bucky Breichert in ''Black Dahlia''.
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* {{Alliterative Name}}: He loves these. Wendell White, Ed Exley and Pierce Patchitt Patchett in ''LA Confidential'', Bucky Breichert Bleichert in ''Black Dahlia''.
** [[spoiler: Preston Exley]] has aspects of this in ''Literature/LAConfidential''.
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* {{Berserk Button}}: Do not beat up women when Budd White is around.
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* {{Berserk Button}}: Do not beat up women when Budd Bud White is around.
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* BadAss: Pete Bondurant, the physically imposing (6 feet 4 inches and muscular 230 pounds), chain-smoking, laconic ex-Marine, ex-cop, licensed PI, extortionist extraordinaire and a freelance Mafia hitman [[spoiler: is arguably a rather vicious deconstruction of this trope. By the time of ''The Cold Six Thousand'' he is an emotional and physical wreck (he goes through a brain tumor and two heart attacs over the course of the story), wanting nothing more than to retire to a life of peace and quiet with his wife.]] Ellroy being Ellroy, [[spoiler: he actually [[EarnYourHappyEnding gets his wish]] but boy howdy, does he have to jump through the hoops for it.]]
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* BadAss: Pete Bondurant, the physically imposing (6 feet 4 inches and muscular 230 pounds), chain-smoking, laconic ex-Marine, ex-cop, licensed PI, extortionist extraordinaire and a freelance Mafia hitman [[spoiler: is arguably a rather vicious deconstruction of this trope. By the time of ''The Cold Six Thousand'' he is an emotional and physical wreck (he goes through a brain tumor and two heart attacs attacks over the course of the story), wanting nothing more than to retire to a life of peace and quiet with his wife.]] Ellroy being Ellroy, [[spoiler: he actually [[EarnYourHappyEnding gets his wish]] but boy howdy, does he have to jump through the hoops for it.]]
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* BadAss: Pete Bondurant, the physically imposing (6' 4'' and muscular 230 pounds), chain-smoking, laconic ex-Marine, ex-cop, licensed PI, extortionist extraordinaire and a freelance Mafia hitman [[spoiler: is arguably a rather vicious deconstruction of this trope. By the time of ''The Cold Six Thousand'' he is an emotional and physical wreck (he goes through a brain tumor and two heart attacs over the course of the story), wanting nothing more than to retire to a life of peace and quiet with his wife.]] Ellroy being Ellroy, [[spoiler: he actually [[EarnYourHappyEnding gets his wish]] but boy howdy, does he have to jump through the hoops for it.]]
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* BadAss: Pete Bondurant, the physically imposing (6' 4'' (6 feet 4 inches and muscular 230 pounds), chain-smoking, laconic ex-Marine, ex-cop, licensed PI, extortionist extraordinaire and a freelance Mafia hitman [[spoiler: is arguably a rather vicious deconstruction of this trope. By the time of ''The Cold Six Thousand'' he is an emotional and physical wreck (he goes through a brain tumor and two heart attacs over the course of the story), wanting nothing more than to retire to a life of peace and quiet with his wife.]] Ellroy being Ellroy, [[spoiler: he actually [[EarnYourHappyEnding gets his wish]] but boy howdy, does he have to jump through the hoops for it.]]
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* BadAss: Pete Bondurant, the physically imposing (6' 4'' and muscular 230 pounds), chain-smoking, laconic ex-Marine, ex-cop, licensed PI, extortionist extraordinaire and a freelance Mafia hitman [[spoiler: is arguably a rather vicious deconstruction of this trope. By the time of ''The Cold Six Thousand'' he is an emotional and physical wreck (he goes through a brain tumor and two heart attacs over the course of the story), wanting nothing more than to retire to a life of peace and quiet with his wife.]] Ellroy being Ellroy, [[spoiler: he actually [[EarnYourHappyEnding gets his wish]] but boy howdy, does he have to jump through the hoops for it.]]
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** Though [[spoiler: Dwight Holly]] probably gets it the worst of them all.
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* ShellShockedVeteran: Pete Bondurant's service in WWII clearly took its toll on him. [[spoiler: By the end of ''The Cold Six Thousand'' the life he's led also catches up with him. ''Hard''.]]
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* ShellShockedVeteran: Pete Bondurant's service in WWII clearly took its toll on him. [[spoiler: By the end of ''The Cold Six Thousand'' the life he's led until that point also catches up with him. ''Hard''.]]
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* ShellShockedVeteran: Pete Bondurant's service in WWII clearly took its toll on him. [[spoiler: By the end of ''The Cold Six Thousand'' the life he's led also catches up with him. ''Hard''.]]
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terseness, formatting
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* {{Author Appeal}}: Peeping.2
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* {{Author Appeal}}: Peeping.2
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** ''Clandestine'' features pages and pages of golf, and it turns up in several other novels. They say "write what you know". The man knows golf.
*** Ellroy actually used to be a caddy, and caddied up until the sale of his fifth book. Caddies feature prominently in ''Brown's Requiem'', his first book.
*** Ellroy actually used to be a caddy, and caddied up until the sale of his fifth book. Caddies feature prominently in ''Brown's Requiem'', his first book.
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** Golf. ''Clandestine'' features pages and pages of golf, it, and it turns up in several other novels. They say "write what you know". The man knows golf.
***Ellroy actually used to be a caddy, and caddied up until the sale of his fifth book. Caddies feature prominently in ''Brown's Requiem'', his first book.
***
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** Though [[spoiler: Wayne's]] death looks more like being DrivenToSuicide and [[spoiler: Dwight's]] does end up keeping [[spoiler: Crutch]] alive by proxy.
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** Also [[spoiler: Ward Littell]] at the end of '''The Cold Six Thousand'''
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** Also [[spoiler: Ward Littell]] at the end of '''The ''The Cold Six Thousand'''Thousand''
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* {{Author Appeal}}: Peeping.
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* {{Author Appeal}}: Peeping.2
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** Also [[spoiler: Ward Littell]] at the end of '''The Cold Six Thousand'''
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* AteHisGun: [[spoiler: Upshaw]] nearly goes out this way before realising that due to his homosexuality the imagery behind it would be used to mock him.
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* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler: Upshaw]] after his homosexuality is threatened to be leaked.
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* HeroKiller: Dudley Smith hounds [[spoiler: Upshaw]] into committing suicide and personally guns down [[spoiler: Buzz Meeks]]
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* SlashedThroat: how [[spoiler: Upshaw]] kills himself. Ear to ear in one cut
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-->''The essential contention of the Underworld USA trilogy ... is that America was never innocent. Here's the lineage: America was founded on a bedrock of racism, slaughter of the indigenous people, slavery, religious lunacy ... and nations are never innocent. Let alone nations as powerful as our beloved fatherland. What you have in ''The Cold Six Thousand'' — which covers the years '63 to '68 — is that last gasp of pre-public-accountability America where the [[RedScare anti-communist mandate]] justified [[TheGovernment virtually any action]]. And it wasn't [[WhoShotJFK Kennedy's death]] that engendered mass skepticism. It was the protracted horror of the [[VietnamWar Vietnamese war]].''
--->-- James Ellroy
One of the quintessential {{Mad Artist}}s of the 20th century, James Ellroy was born in 1948, and had a troubled childhood due to his parents' highly dysfunctional relationship that ended in their divorce. The key event in his life happened when he was just ten years old, when his mother was raped and murdered. The crime was never solved and Ellroy went to live with his father, who died seven years later. From there he dropped out of school and became a homeless, drug-addicted thief. After spending some time in jail he began to turn his life around by quitting drugs and getting a job as a caddy. However, his true passion became writing. His mother's murder had left him with a fascination of violent crime, much of it centered around the similar murder of aspiring actress Elizabeth Short, popularly known as the "Black Dahlia" case. One of his novels is a fictionalized account of the case to give Short a bit more closure than she received in real life, one of the biggest cases of {{Creator Breakdown}} in a career full of it.
His books include lots of {{Black and Grey Morality}} and {{Deliberate Values Dissonance}}, as well as {{Loads And Loads Of Characters}}.
----
!!Tropes this Author is known for include:
* {{Alliterative Name}}: He loves these. Wendell White, Ed Exley and Pierce Patchitt in ''LA Confidential'', Bucky Breichert in ''Black Dahlia''.
** Though Bucky's name is actually Dwight.
* ArchnemesisDad: Wayne Tedrow, Sr.
* {{The Atoner}}: Wayne Tedrow Jr [[spoiler: and Dwight Holly, after his nervous breakdown]].
* {{Author Appeal}}: Peeping.
** Incest and serial killers. For a given value of appeal/horrified fascination.
** ''Clandestine'' features pages and pages of golf, and it turns up in several other novels. They say "write what you know". The man knows golf.
*** Ellroy actually used to be a caddy, and caddied up until the sale of his fifth book. Caddies feature prominently in ''Brown's Requiem'', his first book.
** Homosexual rape is an almost disturbingly recurring motif.
* {{Ax Crazy}}: Most of the characters to some extent, but Jean-Philippe and his Cuban mercs stand out.
* BeenThereShapedHistory: The protagonists of the Underworld USA trilogy, who are somehow involved in every major American political event from the 1960 Kennedy campaign to Watergate.
* {{Berserk Button}}: Do not beat up women when Budd White is around.
* {{Beware The Nice Ones}}: [[spoiler: Don Crutchfield and Karen Sifakis.]]
* {{Crapsack World}}: Notable as his books, from ''The Black Dahlia'' on, are intended to tell the secret history of 20th century America
* ColdWar: The setting for most of the Underworld USA Trilogy, specifically the early 60s-70s. Plus, ''The Big Nowhere'' features a subplot about a cop inflitrating a Communist group.
* {{Creator Breakdown}}: As noted above Ellroy's mother was murdered when he was young. As well as providing impetus and material for ''The Black Dahlia'' Ellroy wrote an autobiographical account of the effect it had on him in ''My Dark Places''. He actually tried to investigate the case himself in the mid-'90s, before realizing that there was little point to it as most of the people involved were dead.
* {{Dirty Cop}}: It's fair to say that most of Ellroy's characters are either dirty cops or former dirty cops.
* DoubleReverseQuadrupleAgent: Kemper Boyd, who simultaneously works for the Kennedy brothers, J. Edgar Hoover, the CIA, ''and'' TheMafia.
* FaceHeelTurn: Ward Littell in ''American Tabloid'' and Wayne Tedrow, Jr. in ''The Cold Six Thousand''.
* {{Fate Worse Than Death}}: The methods by which many of the characters are killed (although they do end up dead... eventually).
* {{Genre Shift}}: [[spoiler: ''Literature/WhiteJazz'']] and [[spoiler: ''Blood's a Rover'']] both end up in some very strange places for books that start out as hard boiled detective novels.
* HeelFaceDoorSlam: Almost all of his novels end with one of the protagonists reaching out for redemption and being killed off before he can achieve it.
* HilariousInHindsight: One of Ellroy's appearances on the Conan O'Brien show had him joking about starting an equal opportunity Ku Klux Klan in Kansas City, where he was living with his (now ex) wife at the time. One of the fellow guests on that particular interview was DaveChappelle, who would later go on to do a skit about a Black White Supremacist who didn't know he was Black, because he was also blind.
* HollywoodVoodoo: ''In Blood's a Rover'', though to be fair the focus is mostly on herblore and drugs, rather than zombies and magic. Plus it's an Ellroy book, so ''everything'' is shown as being bizarre and outlandish.
* HoYay: Quite a bit of it occurs between Danny Upshaw and Mal Considine. Not that surprising if you consider Danny's in the closet...
* {{Kill Em All}}: There's pretty much no one left standing by the end of [[spoiler: ''Blood's a Rover'']].
* {{No Good Deed Goes Unpunished}}: This happens a lot. For example, in ''The Cold Six Thousand'' Wayne Tedrow Jr is trying to get away from the shadow of his father - a racist who has made a fortune publishing hate literature. He is dispatched to kill an unarmed black man, who has offended the wrong people in Vegas, for the titular amount of money. He cannot bring himself to do it. The man he was sent to kill [[spoiler: ends up raping and murdering Wayne's wife]]. A similar thing happens in ''Bloods a Rover'' where Wayne goes to warn a black man that he is to be framed for a murder Wayne committed and [[spoiler: he ends up having to kill him and an innocent bystander after the guy attacks him. He goes on to steal from the Mob and uses the proceeds to fund leftist causes in the Dominican Republic after seeing how minorities are treated there. He is randomly murdered while walking among the people he is trying to help. Dwight Holly is murdered by Scotty Bennett when he tries to prevent Bennett from killing Crutch.]]
* SawedOffShotgun: A very common weapon in his books.
* {{Shoot the Shaggy Dog}}: [[spoiler: ''Blood's a Rover'']] comes very close to this. As one of the (very few) surviving characters notes towards the end of the book, having gone through hell and finally uncovered the conspiracy: "He had [the] story now. Facts clicked into place, redundant. Who gives a shit?"
* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Pete Bondurant for Buzz Meeks: a disgraced ex-DirtyCop turned Hollywood fixer who works as an enforcer for Howard Hughes.
* TookALevelInBadass: [[spoiler: Don Crutchfield]] overcomes voodoo drug induced paralysis through sheer force of will, bites the head off a live rat just to prove he can and kills the two guys who did this to him and were about to murder him. He later kills [[spoiler: Jean-Philippe and the mercs]] with a flamethrower and is responsible for the death of [[spoiler: J. Edgar Hoover]] and the destruction of his blackmail files. He is the only main character to survive the book and at the end it is revealed that, following the events of the novel, he became a Hollywood power broker. This character is the {{chew toy}} for much of the story and his mob nickname is Dipshit.
* VillainProtagonist: The protagonists of the Underworld USA trilogy are a motley collection of extortionists, dope peddlers, mercenaries, con men, and assassins.
* {{Villain With Good Publicity}}: Notably [[spoiler: Dudley Smith]], although most of Ellroy's cop protagonists are this to some extent.
* {{Who Shot JFK}}: and Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy. In ''American Tabloid'' and ''The Cold Six Thousand''.
* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: Michael Martin Plunkett. Former ChildProdigy and a SerialKiller.
--->-- James Ellroy
One of the quintessential {{Mad Artist}}s of the 20th century, James Ellroy was born in 1948, and had a troubled childhood due to his parents' highly dysfunctional relationship that ended in their divorce. The key event in his life happened when he was just ten years old, when his mother was raped and murdered. The crime was never solved and Ellroy went to live with his father, who died seven years later. From there he dropped out of school and became a homeless, drug-addicted thief. After spending some time in jail he began to turn his life around by quitting drugs and getting a job as a caddy. However, his true passion became writing. His mother's murder had left him with a fascination of violent crime, much of it centered around the similar murder of aspiring actress Elizabeth Short, popularly known as the "Black Dahlia" case. One of his novels is a fictionalized account of the case to give Short a bit more closure than she received in real life, one of the biggest cases of {{Creator Breakdown}} in a career full of it.
His books include lots of {{Black and Grey Morality}} and {{Deliberate Values Dissonance}}, as well as {{Loads And Loads Of Characters}}.
----
!!Tropes this Author is known for include:
* {{Alliterative Name}}: He loves these. Wendell White, Ed Exley and Pierce Patchitt in ''LA Confidential'', Bucky Breichert in ''Black Dahlia''.
** Though Bucky's name is actually Dwight.
* ArchnemesisDad: Wayne Tedrow, Sr.
* {{The Atoner}}: Wayne Tedrow Jr [[spoiler: and Dwight Holly, after his nervous breakdown]].
* {{Author Appeal}}: Peeping.
** Incest and serial killers. For a given value of appeal/horrified fascination.
** ''Clandestine'' features pages and pages of golf, and it turns up in several other novels. They say "write what you know". The man knows golf.
*** Ellroy actually used to be a caddy, and caddied up until the sale of his fifth book. Caddies feature prominently in ''Brown's Requiem'', his first book.
** Homosexual rape is an almost disturbingly recurring motif.
* {{Ax Crazy}}: Most of the characters to some extent, but Jean-Philippe and his Cuban mercs stand out.
* BeenThereShapedHistory: The protagonists of the Underworld USA trilogy, who are somehow involved in every major American political event from the 1960 Kennedy campaign to Watergate.
* {{Berserk Button}}: Do not beat up women when Budd White is around.
* {{Beware The Nice Ones}}: [[spoiler: Don Crutchfield and Karen Sifakis.]]
* {{Crapsack World}}: Notable as his books, from ''The Black Dahlia'' on, are intended to tell the secret history of 20th century America
* ColdWar: The setting for most of the Underworld USA Trilogy, specifically the early 60s-70s. Plus, ''The Big Nowhere'' features a subplot about a cop inflitrating a Communist group.
* {{Creator Breakdown}}: As noted above Ellroy's mother was murdered when he was young. As well as providing impetus and material for ''The Black Dahlia'' Ellroy wrote an autobiographical account of the effect it had on him in ''My Dark Places''. He actually tried to investigate the case himself in the mid-'90s, before realizing that there was little point to it as most of the people involved were dead.
* {{Dirty Cop}}: It's fair to say that most of Ellroy's characters are either dirty cops or former dirty cops.
* DoubleReverseQuadrupleAgent: Kemper Boyd, who simultaneously works for the Kennedy brothers, J. Edgar Hoover, the CIA, ''and'' TheMafia.
* FaceHeelTurn: Ward Littell in ''American Tabloid'' and Wayne Tedrow, Jr. in ''The Cold Six Thousand''.
* {{Fate Worse Than Death}}: The methods by which many of the characters are killed (although they do end up dead... eventually).
* {{Genre Shift}}: [[spoiler: ''Literature/WhiteJazz'']] and [[spoiler: ''Blood's a Rover'']] both end up in some very strange places for books that start out as hard boiled detective novels.
* HeelFaceDoorSlam: Almost all of his novels end with one of the protagonists reaching out for redemption and being killed off before he can achieve it.
* HilariousInHindsight: One of Ellroy's appearances on the Conan O'Brien show had him joking about starting an equal opportunity Ku Klux Klan in Kansas City, where he was living with his (now ex) wife at the time. One of the fellow guests on that particular interview was DaveChappelle, who would later go on to do a skit about a Black White Supremacist who didn't know he was Black, because he was also blind.
* HollywoodVoodoo: ''In Blood's a Rover'', though to be fair the focus is mostly on herblore and drugs, rather than zombies and magic. Plus it's an Ellroy book, so ''everything'' is shown as being bizarre and outlandish.
* HoYay: Quite a bit of it occurs between Danny Upshaw and Mal Considine. Not that surprising if you consider Danny's in the closet...
* {{Kill Em All}}: There's pretty much no one left standing by the end of [[spoiler: ''Blood's a Rover'']].
* {{No Good Deed Goes Unpunished}}: This happens a lot. For example, in ''The Cold Six Thousand'' Wayne Tedrow Jr is trying to get away from the shadow of his father - a racist who has made a fortune publishing hate literature. He is dispatched to kill an unarmed black man, who has offended the wrong people in Vegas, for the titular amount of money. He cannot bring himself to do it. The man he was sent to kill [[spoiler: ends up raping and murdering Wayne's wife]]. A similar thing happens in ''Bloods a Rover'' where Wayne goes to warn a black man that he is to be framed for a murder Wayne committed and [[spoiler: he ends up having to kill him and an innocent bystander after the guy attacks him. He goes on to steal from the Mob and uses the proceeds to fund leftist causes in the Dominican Republic after seeing how minorities are treated there. He is randomly murdered while walking among the people he is trying to help. Dwight Holly is murdered by Scotty Bennett when he tries to prevent Bennett from killing Crutch.]]
* SawedOffShotgun: A very common weapon in his books.
* {{Shoot the Shaggy Dog}}: [[spoiler: ''Blood's a Rover'']] comes very close to this. As one of the (very few) surviving characters notes towards the end of the book, having gone through hell and finally uncovered the conspiracy: "He had [the] story now. Facts clicked into place, redundant. Who gives a shit?"
* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Pete Bondurant for Buzz Meeks: a disgraced ex-DirtyCop turned Hollywood fixer who works as an enforcer for Howard Hughes.
* TookALevelInBadass: [[spoiler: Don Crutchfield]] overcomes voodoo drug induced paralysis through sheer force of will, bites the head off a live rat just to prove he can and kills the two guys who did this to him and were about to murder him. He later kills [[spoiler: Jean-Philippe and the mercs]] with a flamethrower and is responsible for the death of [[spoiler: J. Edgar Hoover]] and the destruction of his blackmail files. He is the only main character to survive the book and at the end it is revealed that, following the events of the novel, he became a Hollywood power broker. This character is the {{chew toy}} for much of the story and his mob nickname is Dipshit.
* VillainProtagonist: The protagonists of the Underworld USA trilogy are a motley collection of extortionists, dope peddlers, mercenaries, con men, and assassins.
* {{Villain With Good Publicity}}: Notably [[spoiler: Dudley Smith]], although most of Ellroy's cop protagonists are this to some extent.
* {{Who Shot JFK}}: and Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy. In ''American Tabloid'' and ''The Cold Six Thousand''.
* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: Michael Martin Plunkett. Former ChildProdigy and a SerialKiller.
