The last book Ellroy wrote in conventional prose, it's still packed with violence, corruption, racism, misogyny, drugs, murder, sexual violence, sexual obsession, bad cops, and bad cops tormwented with a sliver of conscience. The search for the killer of Elizabeth Short is riven with politics and venality, and one cop who becomes utterly obsessed and his partner tagged along reluctantly for the ride, becoming drawn into the madness. Still, at heart, a tightly plotted whodunnit that unravels amidst the high-strung psychosis and melodrama.