My Dark Places

351 pp. In 1958, when James Ellroy was 10 years old, his mother's body was found in a run-down town near Los Angeles. The murderer was never found; the case remains unsolved. This remarkable book--part unflinching autobiography, part vivid reportage--tells an extraordinarily gripping story about the failed murder investigation, uncovering Ellroy's daring, revelatory journey into and through his most forbidding memories.