Perfidia
Four Japanese Americans are murdered on the day before Pearl Harbor, opening a book which could be called a police procedural when police procedure involves murdering suspects, wiretapping each other, debating whom to frame for the murders, going out of town to execute a witness as a courtesy to a mobster, and plotting to profit from the upcoming internment of all citizens of Japanese descent. Casual racism is expressed throughout the book, presumably through the minds of the principal characters: a police groupie who infiltrates left-wing meetings; an IRA veteran policeman who carries out illegal operations for Joseph Kennedy; a Japanese-American forensic scientist in the awkward position of being the only one of his race employed by the L.A.P.D.; and a real-life captain who is conducting an eventually successful campaign to become chief of police.
This is the latest in Ellroy’s series of interrelated novels about the dark side of Los Angeles. His style consists of short powerful phrases sprinkled with vulgarities such as (my favorite): “stirred up a shitload of shit.” The murder investigation fades into the background as real life and invented characters react to war with its dangers and opportunities. One of the main characters is conducting an affair with Bette Davis, and other Hollywood stars are mentioned from time to time, usually in the context of rumors of homosexuality or abortion. The usual noir elements include prostitutes undergoing plastic surgery to look like movie stars and Chinese doctors selling shrunken Japanese heads. Confusion about who the good guys are and who the bad guys are disappears when you realize there are no good guys.
