His Life in Crime

Ellroy with mother Jean Hilliker

        But there's a particular aspect of my youth that has become distorted by repetition : like going to jail. It was not the big house. It was the jail of six-man cells and two stupid white guys, two stupid black guys and two stupid Mexican guys lying about their criminal exploits and their movie-star girlfriends.

excerpt from

James Ellroy on His Life in Crime, His Imaginary Dog
and the Need to Provoke
David Marchese
NYT magazine
2019

     https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/19/magazine/james-ellroy-interview.html