Set in 1940s Los Angeles. Two police officers, Bucky Bleichert and his partner, Lee Blanchard, investigate the death of Elizabeth Short - also known as The Black Dahlia, a young woman who is found brutally murdered. With a corpse so mutilated, the photos are kept from the public. Bucky soon realizes that his girlfriend had ties to the deceased, and soon after that, he begins uncovering corruption and conspiracy within the police department. The case...

Using the basic facts concerning the 1940s' notorious and yet unsolved Black Dahlia case, Ellroy creates a kaleidoscope of human passion and dark obsession. A young woman's mutilated body is found in a Los Angeles vacant lot. The story is seen through the eyes of Bucky Bleichert, ex-prize fighter and something of a boy wonder on the police force. There is no relief or humor as Bleichert arrives at a grisly discovery. Ellroy's powerful rendering of...

In 1947 th brutal, sadistic murder of a beautiful young woman led to the largest manhunt in L.A. history. the killer teased and taunted the police and public, but his identity remained a mystery...until now.

In 1946, movie star wannabe Elizabeth Short traveled to Hollywood to become famous and see her name up in lights. Instead, the dark-haired beauty became immortalized in the headlines as the "Black Dahlia" when her nude and bisected body was discovered in the weeds of a vacant lot. Despite the efforts of more than 400 police officers, homicide investigators, and the arrest of numerous suspects, the heinous crime was never solved.