Brown's Requiem

Amazon.com Review Before he began to remap the geography of the crime novel and venture out into the darkest noir night of them all with L.A. Confidential , The Black Dahlia , White Jazz , and American Tabloid , James Ellroy started his career with this powerful but basically straightforward book about Los Angeles private eye Fritz Brown. At first glance, the story of an investigation into a crooked golf tournament that opens up to include arson and murder could be just another work by any one of the dozens of good writers who have used Southern California as a metaphor for the decline and fall of civilization. But behind the terse prose, astute readers will soon begin to hear something else--the increasingly loud clamor of a cry of pain that will eventually become the barely manageable madness of Ellroy's later books. --Dick Adler Review "Crime, corruption, and obsessive sex...the most acclaimed noir writer of the past twenty years." -- _-- _Mystery News "Hard-bitten...ingenious...Ellroy segues into political intrigue without missing a beat." -- _-- _The New York Times In James Ellroy & rsquo;s first novel, a PI investigates a deadly conspiracy at one of Los Angeles & rsquo;s most exclusive country clubs It would be a stretch to call Fritz Brown a detective. A PI in name only, he washed out of the police force at twenty-five, and makes a cash living doing under-the-table repo work for a sleazy used-car dealer. It & rsquo;s an ugly job, but Fritz is not one to say no to easy money. That doesn & rsquo;t mean he won & rsquo;t take a case now and then. A caddy visits his office, asking Fritz to dig up dirt on the golf-nut who & rsquo;s dating his sister. Convinced by the caddy & rsquo;s suspiciously fat wad of bills, Fritz agrees to investigate, hoping for a chance to meet the girl. Instead he finds himself embroiled in a tangled world of country club intrigue, where wealth can buy innocence and murder is not half as rare as a hole-in-one A PI investigates a conspiracy at an LA country club: The first book by “the author of some of the most powerful crime novels ever written” (The New York Times). It would be a stretch to call Fritz Brown a detective. A PI in name only, he washed out of the police force at twenty-five, and makes a cash living doing under-the-table repo work for a sleazy used-car dealer. It’s an ugly job, but Fritz is not one to say no to easy money. That doesn’t mean he won’t take a case now and then. A caddy visits his office, asking Fritz to dig up dirt on the golf-nut who’s dating his sister. Convinced by the caddy’s suspiciously fat wad of bills, Fritz agrees to investigate, hoping for a chance to meet the girl. Instead he finds himself embroiled in a tangled world of country club intrigue, where wealth can buy innocence and murder is not half as rare as a hole-in-one. In James Ellroy{u2019}s first novel, a PI investigates a deadly conspiracy at one of Los Angeles{u2019}s most exclusive country clubs It would be a stretch to call Fritz Brown a detective. A PI in name only, he washed out of the police force at twenty-five, and makes a cash living doing under-the-table repo work for a sleazy used-car dealer. It{u2019}s an ugly job, but Fritz is not one to say no to easy money. That doesn{u2019}t mean he won{u2019}t take a case now and then. A caddy visits his office, asking Fritz to dig up dirt on the golf-nut who{u2019}s dating his sister. Convinced by the caddy{u2019}s suspiciously fat wad of bills, Fritz agrees to investigate, hoping for a chance to meet the girl. Instead he finds himself embroiled in a tangled world of country club intrigue, where wealth can buy innocence and murder is not half as rare as a hole-in-one