Once a punk, prowler, pill popper and profligate panty-sniffer, author James Ellroy transformed his degenerate existence to become perhaps the greatest – if not most infamous – crime writer in the world. Ellroy’s novels have been studious crossbreeds of fact and fiction, colliding in brutal fashion to create an alternative history of post-war Los Angeles. His obsession for the dark and unseemly, no doubt fueled by the unsolved murder of his mother in 1958, was clearly reflected in his characters – particularly the hard-edged, broken-down cops who struggle to redeem their violent natures