The magazine pieces in this collection, which are mostly too short to be satisfying in book form, deal less than I expected with travel and more with the outdoors and adventure sports. Unfortunately there are very few things less interestin...

The Big Nowhere seems to be the book in which Ellroy found his footing. It reads like a practice run for LA Confidential, which this book precedes and with which it shares some characters. It retains the murder-mystery aspects of Ellroy's e...