Let’s start with the podcast. You selected five stories, including Stephanie from Destination: Morgue!, and Clash by Night from your Hollywood Reporter piece on the Sal Mineo murder. Why these? It’s a crime, and it’s all set in Hollywood. Two things. I have a bass baritone voice, I have a strong voice, I can read dramatically. I have a journalistic style. And one could argue that my mother’s unsolved murder in 1958 when I was 10 years old is what got me hooked on crime… The podcast was fine, but as much as I dig this series, it’s nothing but a horse chase for the complete and unexplained version of my 1995 American Tabloid novel about the reign of John F. Kennedy. And that will take 12 hours with me narrating, and noted actors reading the dialogue. Josh Hartnett, Aaron Eckhart and Scarlet Johansson in the film adaptation of Ellroy’s Black Dahlia. Photo: Universal/Allstar So is this series a tester for that? Yes, tester. The opening act. I like to say that movies and TV shows are out and podcasts are in. Podcasts are the perfect adaptation of the novel in another form. Time is not a factor. There is no censorship. Writes, 100% transferable. This is a kick for me. What was your idea of podcasts before you started this? Do you have any favorites? No, I don’t hear anything. I don’t have a computer, I don’t have a mobile phone. I have written all my books by hand. Can we talk about Stephanie, who appears on the podcast? This is my favorite of all my crimes. I went to high school just a few high schools to the northeast of Stephanie Gorman. I was born in ’48, and she in ’49. And, if one can use that term to describe a murder dossier, hers is the best dossier I’ve ever read. I’m trying to have a strong third act. I am in competition with the late Philip Roth When talking about Stephanie’s still-unsolved murder, you write, “the act creates the commotion” and “the killer is critical and irrelevant.” if you put him under the hot lights, you would discover that he was nothing but a human drop of delusion. He wouldn’t know why he did it. I doubt it was very premeditated. He might have seen her going in and out of that house, in that very middle-class neighborhood, and gotten her a yen. And then, one day, he knocked, opened the door, and responded. One of the things that can be difficult about true crime is that it’s often women who get killed, and yet they get lost in the crime narrative. What is your position on this? I am very interested in the character of the victim. For me, the question is always, “Who was she?”… It was in 2001 when I wrote Stephanie’s piece for GQ, and the case had been reopened, and the detective, Tim Marcia, and I visited her old home. High School. Stephanie was a uniquely wonderful girl. He exuded character. Tim and I were just gaga for her. And we saw some old school yearbooks with Stephanie’s picture in them. I had seen the death photos before, and some family photos. But I had never seen live footage of Stephanie on the tennis team or Stephanie in her history class before. We saw these pictures and Tim and I lost it, crying like animals. I said to Tim, “I love her.” He said, “Yes, I can take it.” In the past, you’ve talked about Bill Clinton and his moral depravity in the way he treated Monica Lewinsky. How have the last two presidents of America affected you? I’ve been out of the world for a long time. I didn’t follow the Trump presidency, I didn’t follow the Biden presidency, I don’t watch TV except for boxing. The world I portray in my books – of powerful men – there are unfortunate young women who want to be part of the scene. Men will lie and do almost anything to impress women. It’s the nature of the beast. And also, perhaps, to impress other powerful men. Yes. Which is some twisted shit. Why aren’t you in business anymore? My books are extremely complex and require a solid amount of planning time before I write the first word of text. And if I only read for the time I write, I have everything I need at home. I work out a lot, I have an elliptical machine in my office. After this interview, I will deal with it. I have a boom box and I play classical music CDs, so I’ll listen to a piece of music and exercise. Blow my endorphins into the sky? Yes. James Ellroy in 1995 outside the LA restaurant where his mother was last seen alive in 1958. Photo: Damian Dovarganes/AP The first time I interviewed you, you were living in Kansas, the second time you were in Los Angeles. Now you’re in Denver. I understand that you have gotten back together with your ex-wife, Helen Knode? Yes, yes, back with Helen, and very happy for six years. Monogamy was never our problem. It was always cohabitation. Cohabitation is horrible. So now I live in apartment 208 and Eleni in apartment 200. Do you still have dogs? You had a bull terrier named BarkoBarko the bull terrier, Margaret the bull terrier, Dudley the bull terrier. Very British dogs. But no, no dogs now. Because I’m older. I’m just divorced with how dogs predate you. Do you still have a lot of guns? When I owned the house in Kansas City, I had a lot of guns. And I had a library and everything. But here I think I’ve reached two. They live in the apartment. What is my position on gun control? I don’t think about it. The thing is with psychopaths, if they want to get their hands on a gun, they will get it by hook or by crook. I was thinking more about crazy young kids who think, “I hate everybody.” If it wasn’t so easy for them to get guns, they could just hate everyone and not harm them. This is a very good point. With me, though, call me shallow, but I don’t think too much about these matters. You joined AA in the 1970s, so early that cocaine didn’t even exist. Yes, it was so long ago that I had never used cocaine. Cocaine became a big deal in Los Angeles in the 1980s. When I got into AA it was good for hot tub parties. There was a place called Hot Tub Fever where people went. Make an appointment at Hot Tub Fever and have your very own hot tub room in it. I don’t think it exists anymore. How do you feel about getting old? I’m trying to have a strong third act. I am in competition with the late Philip Roth. What sounds like a good lifespan would be 88, or 89, or 90 more, which gives me plenty of time to finish this novel I’m writing right now, and the two concluding books of the “Second LA Quartet” and maybe a another Book. And do some podcasts. There’s no way you can rationalize 74 as middle-aged. This wild ride isn’t forever. But I’m not particularly afraid.
