The amazing James Ellroy is back with a new L.A. Quartet. I was lucky enough to hear him speak for the second time (the first time was at the 2009 LA Times Festival of Books) on October 30, and he is so amazing. Just enthralling. "Perfidia" was hard core, gritty, and on point. It's set in L.A. in December of 1941. A few hours before Pearl Harbor, a Japanese family is murdered. LAPD wants the case wrapped up and wrapped up quick, they don't care is the real killer is brought to justice, so long as someone is so they can get back to business as usual. Many of his characters from other books make appearances, like Dudley Smith, Kay Lake, Claire DeHaven, and Bucky Bleichert. The ending knocked me out, as his endings always do.
Barry Lyga's third book in the Game trilogy, "Blood of My Blood", was awesome. It's a shame he's classified as YA, because I think a lot of adults tend to shy away from YA books, and this is one that shouldn't be missed. Jazz tracks his escaped serial killer father to New York. Billy Dent kidnaps Jazz's girlfriends, Connie, but she manages to escape, but not after seeing Billy has Jazz's mom Janice held hostage too. Billy goes back to Lobo's Nob, and Jazz follows, determined to save his mom. I sort of figured out the big twist beforehand, but it didn't diminish the impact when it came. Wow. Just a great way to tie up the series.
If you're around my age or a bit older, you probably remember May of 1998, and hearing on the news that Phil Hartman had been murdered by his wife Brynn. I didn't watch Saturday Night Live for long, but I did watch during some of Phil's tenure there, and always enjoyed his sketches. I loved him on the Simpsons, too, as Troy McClure and Lionel Hutz. He was slated to be on Futurama as Zapp Brannigan, and he would have been magnificent. Mike Thomas's tribute to Phil is lovely, talking about what a great guy he was, how everyone loved him. Phil always seemed much younger to me than his actual age, just because of how funny he was and how much he seemed to enjoy life. His murder was a real tragedy.
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