The Black Dahlia Audiobook By James Ellroy cover art

The Black Dahlia

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The Black Dahlia

By: James Ellroy
Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
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On January 15, 1947, the tortured body of a beautiful young woman was found in a vacant lot in Hollywood. Elizabeth Short, the Black Dahlia, a young Hollywood hopeful, had been brutally murdered. Her murder sparked one of the greatest manhunts in California history.

In this fictionalized treatment of a real case, Bucky Bleichert and Lee Blanchard, both LA cops obsessed with the Black Dahlia, journey through the seamy underside of Hollywood to the core of the dead girl's twisted life.

©1987 James Ellroy (P)2006 Random House, Inc. Fiction Hard-Boiled Historical Mystery Police Procedural True Crime True Crime Fiction

Critic reviews

"Passionate, violent, frustrating...imaginative and bizarre." (Los Angeles Times)
"Ellroy's powerful rendering of the long-reaching effects of murder gives the case new meaning." (Library Journal)
"Building like a symphony, this is a wonderful, complicated but accessible tale of ambition, insanity, passion, and deceit, with the perfect setting of booming, postwar Los Angeles." (Publishers Weekly)

Featured Article: These Noir Listens Will Take You to the Dark Side of Fiction


What do you love most in your mystery listens? Is it dark, moody settings and gritty storylines? Is it morally ambiguous main characters with complex inner lives? If so, noir is your kind of fiction. As a literary genre, noir can be difficult to nail down because so much of it is based on a general feeling of darkness and danger. Noir fiction was inspired by film noir, and film noir traces its roots to hard-boiled detective novels. Check out the world of noir fiction audiobooks.

Featured Article These Noir Listens Will Take You to the Dark Side of Fiction
Compelling Mystery • Historical Context • Versatile Voice Acting • Complex Characters • Noir Atmosphere
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Filled with spooky noir nuances, outrageous storylines and complex characters, this is a don't miss book. That's not to say that it doesn't have it's flaws. There are some plot points that make very little sense, and some of the story is downright gory. However, as a whole, it makes for great listening, full of old Hollywood lore and 40's detective lingo.
I purchased and downloaded this well before the film release, fully intending to have it listened to before I saw the movie. I'm actually glad that I didn't read the book before the movie, because while the movie stands on it's own as entertainment, it is nothing next to the book. It's lengthy and requires your full attention, but I think you will find it's worth it.

An oddly compelling story

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Brilliant performance. Thoroughly enjoyed the afterword. Loved the historic setting of Los Angeles in the forties. Some very good twist and turns. Highly recommend.

Slow to get into, but still fantastic.

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The book was ruined by the audio. Not sure if it was the performance or it just being read aloud. Some things just made me hate the recording

Not a good listen

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The racial slurs were rampant, and I am no prude about language that pertains to the story. But this was way over the top. I understand it was about a different time, but some trimming is in order.

Good enough story and presentation.

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outstanding story. well written and researched. Alice and realistic. plot and summary are fetching and valuable. end notes were very helpful!!

the characters

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I normally will read 2 or 3 books at a time. As soon as I started The Black Dahila, I hadn't picked up anything else. Set in post war Los Angeles, like the rest of the LA Quartet series, the story focuses on a particularly horrific murder and investigation surrounding it. Far from a garden variety procedural story, Black Dahila is a deep dive into the very personal trauma of all the characters impacted by the murder. From the victim, to the detectives detailed to the investigation (McEllroy focuses on two in particular) and to the women in those detectives' lives. Again, modern day readers may be jarred by the racism and sexism so casually prevalent in the story. I would argue that 21st century humans aren't any more evolved that our 1950s counterparts; we just dress up our flaws differently. McEllroy takes all the post war shine off America and takes into lives of deeply flawed and incredibly strong people, some of whom are evil and others who are fighting to find the rightness in their world. Again, great book!

Noir both spectacular and personal

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What made the experience of listening to The Black Dahlia the most enjoyable?

The Narrator voice matched the story

What did you like best about this story?

Based on fact

What about Stephen Hoye’s performance did you like?

His voice added to the story

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

I dare you to watch Black Dahlia

Any additional comments?

As you read this book you will find yourself asking for more

The Black Dahlia will pull you in

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Loved this creepy love triangle so much. More even on my second listen. 1940s LA comes alive.

Classic Noir

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Ellroy immerses you in postwar L.A. His writing is as close as one can get to a time machine. And, yes, his writing is about the characters' reacting to the Dahlia murders: good fiction -- even good crime fiction -- is always about character.

If only L.A. Confidential and The Big Sleep were available in unabridged versions. Ellroy simply can't be abridged/

Great Read

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the first 3/4 of the book was very engaging with great character development and story development. Then suddenly major characters vanish and other minor characters become overly complex and pivotal to the story. It felt like he wrote a book, and remembered a plot twist he forgot to include. So it was very disconnected to the story and felt crammed into the end.

Hooked for first 3/4, then it goes astray

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