The winner of numerous awards and accolades, Lee Earle "James" Ellroy is one of the most acclaimed mystery authors writing today. He is best known for his L. A. Quartet novels (The Black Dahlia, The Big Nowhere, L. A. Confidential, and White Jazz), two of which were adapted into movies. The Black Dahlia was based in part on the unsolved real-life murder of his mother when Ellroy was 10 years old. He is also the author of Perfidia, the Underworld USA series, and his memoir My Dark Places, among others.