Nicholas Lezard

How hardboiled detective fiction saved James Ellroy

After his mother’s murder, the teenage Ellroy seemed lost to speed and alcohol – until his discovery of crime writing led to a different addiction

James Ellroy in 1992, soon after the publication of White Jazz. [Getty Images]
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  • Love Me Fierce in Danger: The Life of James Ellroy

    Steven Powell

    Bloomsbury, pp. 334, £12

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