Ellroy is the most important contemporary crime author. The Mirror Los Angeles 1947: On an abandoned lot, the body of a young woman is discovered - naked and brutally mutilated. The murder of the Black Dahlia makes headlines and triggers the largest manhunt in California's history. For Bucky Bleichert and Lee Blanchard of the Los Angeles Police Department, the search for the killer becomes an obsession. Volume 1 of the famous L.A. Quartet. Also read The Blonde. The Search for My Mother's Killer - James Ellroy's most important autobiographical text; a classic of crime literature.