The Enchanters by James Ellroy

 

In Ellroy's latest, he revisits the police department of Los Angeles.  The book opens with the main character, Freddy Otash, a disgraced former policeman and current P.I., working with some old police chums on a starlet kidnapping.  They throw one of the suspects off a cliff and get the woman's location from his partner.  

Freddy has been spying on Marilyn Monroe for Jimmy Hoffa.  Hoffa wants blackmail information on Robert and John Kennedy and the rumor is that both have had affairs with her.  But when Freddy goes into Marilyn's house to remove his bugs and cameras, he finds her dead, an apparent overdose.

There are lots of well-known names in the mix.  There's Bill Parker and Darryl Gates, current and future LAPD Chiefs.  J. Edgar Hoover is in the mix along with a ton of well known actors and actresses.  Freddy has a long standing love affair with Pat Lawford, the President's sister married to Peter Lawford.  It turns out that the kidnapped starlet has been having a long term affair with a studio head and was a friend of Marilyn's.  She also had a sister who was kidnapped off the L.A. streets and killed, the murder never solved.  

Readers need to strap in before starting an Ellroy novel.  The action comes fast and furious and everything, everything, counts and needs to be paid attention to.  I'm on a current Ellroy kick and this one is as much of a roller coaster ride as I've come to expect.  My biggest joy is that Ellroy is prolific and I still have lots of titles yet to read.  This book is recommended for readers of literary and historical fiction.