Destination: Morgue! L.A. Tales is a 2004

2004 in literature

The year 2004 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Canada Reads selects Guy Vanderhaeghe's The Last Crossing to be read across the nation....

 collection of 12 short works by American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 crime fiction

Crime fiction

Crime fiction is the literary genre that fictionalizes crimes, their detection, criminals and their motives. It is usually distinguished from mainstream fiction and other genres such as science fiction or historical fiction, but boundaries can be, and indeed are, blurred...

 writer James Ellroy

James Ellroy

Lee Earle "James" Ellroy is an American crime fiction writer and essayist. Ellroy has become known for a so-called "telegraphic" prose style in his most recent work, wherein he frequently omits connecting words and uses only short, staccato sentences, and in particular for the novels The Black...

. Eight of the pieces are non-fiction crime reportage or essays that Ellroy originally wrote for GQ

GQ (magazine)

GQ is a monthly men's magazine focusing on fashion, style, and culture for men, through articles on food, movies, fitness, sex, music, travel, sports, technology, and books...

magazine, some of which are autobiographical (see also his memoir My Dark Places). Also included are three new novella

Novella

A novella is a written, fictional, prose narrative usually longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards for science fiction define the novella as having a word count between 17,500 and 40,000...

s ("Hollywood Fuck Pad", "Hot-Prowl Rape-O", and "Jungle Jihad") and one short story previously published in GQ ("The Trouble I Cause"). Earlier GQ pieces by Ellroy can be found in the 1999 collection Crime Wave

Crime Wave (book)

Crime Wave is a 1999 collection of 11 short works of fiction and non-fiction, all originally published in GQ, by American crime fiction writer James Ellroy...

.

Contents

• Part I: Crime Culture / Memoir
  • "Balls to the Wall"
  • "Where I Get My Weird Shit"
  • "Stephanie"
  • "Grave Doubt"
  • "My Life as a Creep"
  • "The D.A."
  • "Little Sleazer and the Mail-Sex Mama"
  • "I've Got the Goods"
  • "The Trouble I Cause"
• Part II: Rick Loves Donna
  • "Hollywood Fuck Pad"
  • "Hot-Prowl Rape-O"
  • "Jungle Jihad"