The L.A. Quartet by James Ellroy

A quartet of hard‑edged crime novels set in 1940s–1950s Los Angeles that follows flawed cops, ruthless criminals, reporters and politicians as grisly murders, institutional corruption and political conspiracies unravel; with a noir atmosphere, intersecting investigations and obsessive quests for truth, the stories expose moral decay, racial and police violence, betrayals and cover‑ups beneath Hollywood’s glamour.