James Ellroy, 74, is a crime writer known for his hard-boiled noir novels and true crime essays. Known for his “Los Angeles Quartet of Novels,” which includes “The Black Dahlia” and “Los Angeles Confidential,” and the “Underworld in the U.S.A.” series examining political corruption in the U.S., many of Ellroy’s obsessions (murders, crimes , politics, masculinity) were influenced by the unsolved 1958 murder of his mother, Geneva Hilliker. He recently released two books in his Second LA Quartet – Perfidia (2014) and The Storm (2019) – which begin with Pearl Harbor and are set during World War II. Ellroy has a new podcast, James Ellroy’s Hollywood Death Trip, in which he reads several of his true crime essays.
Let’s start with the podcast. You chose five stories, including Stephanie from Destination: Morgue! and Clash by Night from your Hollywood Reporter article about the Sal Mineo murder. Why these? They are criminal and all set in Hollywood. A few things. I have a bass baritone, I have a strong voice, I can read dramatically. I have a horrible journalistic style. And it could be said that the unsolved murder of my mother in 1958 when I was 10 years old is what got me hooked on crime… The podcast was a joy, but as much as I dig this series, this is nothing more than a stalking horse for the complete and unedited version of my 1995 novel An American Tabloid about the administration of John F. Kennedy. And it will take 12 hours, with me narrating and famous actors reading the dialogue.
Josh Hartnett, Aaron Eckhart and Scarlett Johansson in the film adaptation of Ellroy’s The Black Dahlia. Photo: Universal/Allstar
So is this series a taster for that? Yes, taster. The opening act. I like to say that movies and TV shows are out and podcasts are in. Podcasts are the perfect take on the novel in another form. Time is not a factor. There is no censorship. It is written, 100% transposed. It’s a kick for me.
What was your idea for podcasts before you started this one? Do you have any favourites? No, I’m not listening to anything. I don’t have a computer, I don’t have a mobile phone. I have written all my books by hand.
Can we talk about Stephanie who is on the podcast? This is my favorite of all my crime stories. I went to high school just a few high schools northeast of Stephanie Gorman. I was born in ’48 and she was born in ’49. And if anyone can use that term to describe a murder dossier, hers is the best dossier I’ve ever read.
I try to have a strong third act. I am competing with the late Philip Roth
When recounting Stephanie’s still-unsolved murder, you write, “the action creates the mess” and “the killer is decisive and irrelevant.” If you take the man who killed Stephanie Gorman in the summer of 1965, if you put him under the hot lights, you will find that he is nothing but a delusional human blob. He wouldn’t understand why he did it. I doubt it was very deliberate. He might have seen her going in and out of that house, in the same middle-class neighborhood, and developed a yen for her. And then, one day, he knocked, she opened the door, and he responded.
One of the things that can be difficult with true crime is that often the women are killed, yet they get lost in the narrative of the crime. What is your opinion on the matter? I am very interested in the character of the victim. For me, the question is always, ‘Who was she?’… It was 2001 when I wrote the Stephanie article for GQ, and there was a reopening of the case and the detective, Tim Marsha, and I visited her old high school. Stephanie was a uniquely sweet girl. She exuded character. Tim and I were just happy for her. And we saw some old school yearbooks with Stephanie’s picture in them. I had seen the death photos before and some family photos. But I had never seen live photos of Stephanie on the tennis team or Stephanie in her history class. We saw these pictures and Tim and I just lost it, crying like animals. I told Tim, “I love her.” He said, “Yes, I can have it.”
You’ve spoken in the past about Bill Clinton and his moral degradation in the way he treated Monica Lewinsky. How have America’s last two presidents affected you? I have been out of the world for a long time. I haven’t followed the Trump presidency, I haven’t followed the Biden presidency, I don’t watch TV except for boxing. The world I describe in my books – of powerful men – has unhappy young women who want to be part of the scene. Men will lie and do almost anything to impress women. It’s the nature of the beast.
And also, perhaps, to impress other powerful men. Yes. Which is some twisted nonsense.
Why don’t you tune in more? My books are extremely complex and require a solid year of planning before I write the first word of text. And if I only read up to the era I’m writing about, I have everything I need at home. I exercise a lot, I have an elliptical machine in my office. After this interview I will get on with it. I have a boom box and I play classical CDs, so I will listen to music and exercise. Blast my endorphins sky high? Yes
James Ellroy in 1995 outside the Los Angeles restaurant where his mother was last seen alive in 1958. Photo: Damian Dovarganes/AP
The first time I interviewed you, you lived in Kansas, the second time it was in LA. You’re in Denver now. I understand you have reunited with your ex-wife Helen Knode? Yes, yes, you are back with Helen and very happy for six years. Monogamy has never been our problem. It’s always been a coexistence. Coexistence is terrible. Now I live in apartment 208 and Helen lives in apartment 200.
Do you have any other dogs? You had a Bull Terrier called BarcoBarco Bull Terrier, Margaret Bull Terrier, Dudley Bull Terrier. Very British dogs. But no, there are no dogs now. Because I’m older. I’m just devastated at how the dogs are getting ahead of you.
Do you still own a lot of guns? When I had the house in Kansas City, I had a lot of guns. And I had a library and everything. But here I think I’m down to two. They stay in the apartment. What is my position on gun control? I don’t think about that. The thing with psychopaths is that if they want to get a gun, they will get it by fraud or deception.
I was thinking more of crazy young kids thinking, “I hate everyone.” If it wasn’t so easy for them to get weapons, they could just hate everyone and not hurt them. This is a very good point. However, call me shallow, but I don’t think too much about these matters.
You joined AA in the 1970s, so early that cocaine wasn’t even around. Yes, it was so long ago that I never used cocaine. Cocaine became big business in LA in the 1980s. When I joined AA, it was good for hot tub parties. There was a place called Hot Tub Fever where people went. Go on a Hot Tub Fever date and have your own room with a hot tub in it. I think it no longer exists.
How do you feel about aging? I try to have a strong third act. I am competing with the late Philip Roth. What sounds like a good life expectancy would be 88, or 89, or even 90, which gives me plenty of time to finish this novel I’m currently writing, and the final two books of the Second Los Angeles Quartet. and perhaps another Book. And do some podcasts. There is no way you can rationalize 74 as middle age. This wild ride isn’t forever. But I’m not particularly afraid.
James Ellroy’s Hollywood Death Ride, produced by Audio Up, is available exclusively on Amazon Audible
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