All the books by James Ellroy adapted to cinema and television

In early 1950s Los Angeles, LAPD Sergeant Edmund Ed Exley is determined to live up to the reputation of his father, famed detective Preston Exley, who was killed by an unknown assailant whom Exley nicknamed Rollo Tomasi.

The story is about several Los Angeles Police Department officers in the early 1950s who become embroiled in a mix of sex, corruption and murder following a massacre at the Nite Owl coffee shop. The story eventually encompasses organized crime, political corruption, heroin trafficking, pornography, prostitution and Hollywood.

Los Angeles Police Department detective Sgt. Lloyd Hopkins discovers the brutal murder of a young woman. Hopkins notices a great deal of feminist literature with titles like Rage in the Womb on her bookshelf. He also sees two classified ads for anonymous sexual encounters. When he returns home, his 8-year-old daughter wakes up and begs him for a story.

Fritz Brown is a disgraced former LAPD officer now working as a private investigator, part-time repo man and struggling on-the-wagon ex-alcoholic. Fritz is hired by an obese caddy named Freddy ‘Fat Dog’ Baker, supposedly to keep tabs on Fat Dog’s sister, Jane. In the course of his investigation, Fritz learns that Jane is indeed living with an elderly millionaire.

LAPD Detectives Dwight Bucky Bleichert and Lee Blanchard are paired as partners after engaging in a boxing match to raise funds for the department. He also discovers that Kay has been branded with the initials BD, for Bobby DeWitt, the gangster whose arrest and conviction for a big bank robbery made Lee’s career.