The Black Dahlia (by James Ellroy)

This is the first book I've finished in what seems like months, and what a piece of crap! I'm not complaining, though, because at least I was on vacation and got to read a book. Plus I read a much better book also (see above review) so it wasn't a total loss.

I thought this book would be interesting since Ellroy's mother was also the subject of an unsolved murder, and the Black Dahlia murder is famously unsolved and et cetera. However, in this book, the Black Dahlia murder is solved by the main character and of course, to maintain the verisimillitude, he can't turn the culprit in. The problem is that there is very little reason not to turn the culprit in, and as the very long denoument continues, it makes less and less sense until finally it makes no sense at all.

The epilogue, though, is so horrifically written, in the most overwrought prose you can think of, that it's almost entertaining. Two thumbs down.