L.A. Confidential

James Ellroy

Jack said, “Squeal in front of your friends and you stroll.” Perkins licked his lips. “Barney Stinson. Orderly at Queen of Angels.”


They showed him that men have levels of weakness that are acceptable because other men condone them and levels of weakness that produce a great shame, something to hide from all but a brilliant confessor. They honed his instinct for the jugular of weakness. It got so sharp that sometimes he couldn’t look at himself in the mirror.


looked in. Moochie Mouse gimcracks


Dudley could bend you, shape you, twist you, turn you, point you—and never make you feel like some dumb lump of clay. But he always let you know one thing: he knew you better than you knew yourself.


One of the San Berdoo people said she was a bit of a roundheels,


pinochle game. Gallaudet patted Cohen’s pet bulldog: Mickey Cohen,


The Bible says, ‘Judge not, lest ye be judged,’ so since I am willing to be judged, I say, ‘Judge on, O Mickster.’”


spieling full blast—Abe wiping his face with a napkin. Let the