| L.A. Confidential | |
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First edition cover |
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| Author(s) | James Ellroy |
| Cover artist | Jacket design by Paul Gamarello Jacket illustration by Stephen Peringer |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | L.A. Quartet |
| Genre(s) | Novel, crime fiction |
| Publisher | The Mysterious Press |
| Publication date | June 1990 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover & paperback) and audio cassette |
| Pages | 496 pp (first edition, hardcover) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-89296-293-3 (first edition, hardcover) |
| OCLC Number | 21041119 |
| Dewey Decimal | 813/.54 20 |
| LC Classification | PS3555.L6274 L18 1990 |
| Preceded by | The Big Nowhere (1988) |
| Followed by | White Jazz (1992) |
L.A. Confidential (1990) is neo-noir novel by James Ellroy, and the third of his L.A. Quartet series.
The story revolves around a group of LAPD officers in the early 1950s who become embroiled in a mix of sex, corruption, and murder following a mass murder at the Nite Owl coffee shop. The story eventually encompasses organized crime, political corruption, heroin trafficking, pornography, prostitution, institutional racism, and Hollywood. The title refers to the scandal magazine Confidential, which is fictionalized as Hush-Hush. It also deals with the real-life "Bloody Christmas" scandal.
The three protagonists are LAPD officers. Edmund Exley, the son of a legendary detective, is a "straight arrow" who informs on other officers in a police brutality scandal. This earns the enmity of Wendell "Bud" White, an intimidating enforcer with a personal fixation on men who abuse women. Between the two of them is Jack Vincennes, a flashy cop who moonlights on a police television show and provides tips to a scandal magazine. The three of them must set their differences aside to unravel the conspiracy linking the novel's events.
The book was adapted for a 1997 film of the same name, directed and cowritten by Curtis Hanson and starring Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, James Cromwell, Kim Basinger, David Strathairn and Danny DeVito. The movie was highly acclaimed.
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