Dick Contino's Blues and Other Stories

by James Ellroy

Dick Contino - 50s accordion player, a star in the making, is destroyed by a draft-dodging scandal. His life is on the skids until he comes up with the idea of resurrecting his career with a fake kidnapping scam.

Meanwhile a serial killer is on the loose in Los Angeles...a killer who is closer to Contino than he suspects - a killer who wants in on the kidnap, for real...

Plus five previously unpublished short stories.

Genres: Fiction, Crime, Mystery, Short Stories, Noir, Detective, American

170 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Lee Earle "James" Ellroy is an American crime fiction writer and essayist. Ellroy has become known for a telegrammatic prose style in his most recent work, wherein he frequently omits connecting words and uses only short, staccato sentences, and in particular for the novels The Black Dahlia (1987) and L.A. Confidential (1990).

Reviews

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great, yet exhausting collection. Noir on speed. All the stories are dense and incredibly fast paced. Ellroy trying to cram a novel's worth of ideas into a novella or novelette, sometimes coming off a little Keystone Kops. All are gritty, with flashes of humor and 50's era tough guy slang, and filled with crooked cops, twisted criminals, gratuitous/senseless violence and endless scheming and double crosses. Everyone is mixed up in something shady in these stories, even, and sometimes especially, those who are supposed to be on the right side of the law.

The showcase, and longest story, Dick Contino's Blues, I actually liked the least. The clipped, exaggerated hipster style, which Ellroy turned up to 11 here, made it difficult to absorb and gives the whole thing an air of silliness. But the jolts of humor and witty banter kept me going when I otherwise felt like throwing in the towel.

The highlight for me was Since I Don't Have You, which I had read previously in the most excellent anthology The Best American Noir of the Century. Ellroy packs in so much stark, gritty detail, characterization, backstory and twists & turns it feels like a full novel squeezed down into what amounts to a novelette. Amazingly, it comes off as whole and complete.

Also worth a mention is Gravy Train, featuring a rich dog who's just inherited an entire multi-million dollar estate and the degenerate chosen to look after him. This could be a Tarantino film.

[Toby · Rating 3 out of 5]

James Ellroy takes noir to a new level of darkness, his characters don't exist in shades of grey they exist in shades of charcoal, nearly all morally bankrupt ready to sell out their principles at a moments notice for a shot at a big score or a hot dame with big lungs.

This was my first experience of his short stories and I'm amazed at the different take on the format he has to most other short story collections I've experienced. For Ellroy the short story is an anecdote from a larger story, events that could slot in to one of his larger novels without trouble and in the form of the title story (and the introduction to it from Ellroy himself) an insight in to the working mind of the King of Sinnuendo.

The narrative of how Ellroy came to write Dick Contino's Blues should serve as inspiration for anyone stumbling around looking for ideas for their next story and by happy coincidence this is exactly what I was looking for when I decided to read this partiular collection of stories. There are a million books for aspiring writers and they nearly always talk about finding inspiration, I would put Ellroy's introduction right up their with the best of those chapters as a prime example of how to make coincidence and experience work for you.

The minor drawback in reading a short story from Ellroy is that he usually talks a lot of nonsense, the kind of thing you put up with because you know in his novels it's part of a wide-reaching narrative but in short story form you know it's not really going anywhere further than the 20 pages allotted to it.

[paper0r0ss0 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Raccolta discontinua di racconti che vedono come protagonisti i personaggi che animano con ben altra verve e riuscita i grandi romanzi ellroyani della Citta' degli Angeli. Rapide incursioni, sesso, soldi, depravazione, intrigo e autodistruzione; scrittura come sempre roboante ed ellittica, il nostro James colpisce (quasi) nel segno anche con una mano legata dietro la schiena.

[Gram · Rating 3 out of 5]

James Ellroy's usual macho, machine-gun fire prose cut down to short story size. All the main characters are larger than life and could've jumped straight out of the pages of a 21st Century graphic novel - or a 1940's cartoon show. Ellroy's on safe territory here.
People think he's mad, baaaaaaaaaaad and dangerous, but he's not. It's the publicity blurb that makes him that way. If you haven't read Ellroy before, this collection is a good place to start. But, if I'm honest, I'd say read the 1st 3 books in "The LA Quartet" (the 4th, "White Jazz" isn't as much fun as the others) and you've nailed it.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up
Enjoyed most of the stories.

[Iain · Rating 4 out of 5]

Featuring many of the bit part characters from Ellroy's novels in more central roles, and written in his own inimitable style. Well worth reading for the completists.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

William Johnson has given a terrific review here with a concise
breakdown of each story. Here is my two cents, to do with
the main story "Dick Contino's Blues". First thing I thought
of when I saw this book in the shops was ""Daddy O"!!! you mean
someone else in the world has heard of this movie"!!!
If you want a huge laugh, go into IMDb and read reviews for
"Daddy O" - a hilarious movie for all the wrong reasons!!
Dick Contino (an old looking 30) playing a teenage punk, jeans
hitched up around his underarms and of course the obligatory
songs - "Rock Candy Baby" etc. Contino made the piano accordion
hip (just love Ellroy's description of it as a "stomach Steinway")
but his main claim to fame was as a supposed draft dodger - and
again Ellroy brings to light the real fears and phobias that
lay dormant in him, only surfacing when he stopped his non stop
"heart throb" touring and started to live in the real world.
He is living in a permanent doghouse so he is more than
happy to come in on a phoney kidnapping stunt with himself as
the main attraction. When the kidnapping deal falls through
Dick has to return a favour - he has to keep an eye on DePugh's
beautiful daughter Janie (again I just love "Julie London minus
10,000 miles") who is dabbling in "pinko politics".
Not sure how true the story is - but I wanted to believe and it
made for more interesting reading.

[Clint Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ellroy's writing is not for the faint of heart. The characters are deeply coated in 50's era racism, sexism... everything-ism. Hollywood Nocturnes seems especially spicy in that area. The stories themselves are the snappy vignettes Ellroy's readers should also expect.

The introduction sets the dark tone, a sad reminder that times haven't changed so much:
"Its historical perspective loomed dark: women were strangled and spent eternity unavenged."


"Dick Contino's Blues" starts it off. An ostracized lounge singer plans a publicity hoax to prove he's no coward. It showcases Ellroy's mastery of quips, humor, rapidfire style, and cinematic action.

Sid said, "You can always do something, if you've got nothing to lose."

"Shit. Why are we whispering?"
"Because amphetamines induce paranoia."

The pacing is incredible, demonstrated here, especially with the "primer-gray = similar" line. The fumbling attempt of his earlier Lloyd Hopkins series now has a smooth polish.

Down into Hollywood, speed limit cautious. Pat spoke out of character. "This is Duane. Fritz had an appendicitis and sent him in as a sub. He says he's solid."
Blip: Fritz said he'd been tailed by a primer-gray car.
Blip: Skylark/fresh paint/new permanent license.
Blip: tails on Chrissy.
Blip: light-colored and primer-gray = similar.

Ellroy is one of the noir masters of the cinematic chase scene, particularly as showcased in this story:

25, 40, 60, 70 -- double the speed limit. Blood streaks on my windshield -- I hit the wipers and thinned it red to pink. No sight of the Ford; sirens behind me.

"High Darktown": is a fairly simplistic story of a heavy weapons heist. It's enjoyable, though nothing particularly pops.


"Dial Axminster 6-400":

The theme in this story of a warrant execution that's something between dark humor and hillbilly perversion gone terribly wrong (though not as wrong as a Pulp Fiction sense!):

Treadwell also has two charming brothers, Miller and Leroy. Both are registered sex offenders and do not seem to care much about the gender of their conquests. In fact, Leroy rather likes those of the four-footed persuasion.

"You from Gila Bend?"
"Yeah."
"What's to do there?"
"Set dog's tails on fire and watch flies fuck, drink, fight, and chase your sister."

Here's more of the gritty action that makes Ellroy so addictive:

More "ka-raacks" pulsated through me -- and I didn't know if they were gunshots or parts of my brains going blooey. Enveloped by dust and vapor fumes, I heard, "Legs! Legs, boy! Run!" I obeyed, stumble-running full-out.

Davis hooted, "Ain't got no lights!" and a moment later I saw the Wayside Honor Rancho turnoff sign. Davis saw it too, decelerated, pumped the floorboard and hooted "Ain't got no brakes!" I shut my eyes and felt Li'l Assdragger [the name of their car] shimmy. Then it was a triple fishtail-doughnut combo, and we were stone-cold still in the northbound lane, staring down the headlights of death.

"Since I Don't Have You" features "Buzz" Meeks (from the L.A. Quartet series). It has the expected mafia-style violence as Buzz strives to please both of his bosses, Howard Hughes and Mickey Cohen.

I ["Buzz" Meeks] decided to play both ends against the middle. A thought just hit me: that I'm writing this story because I miss Howard and Mickey, and telling it gives me a chance to be with them again. Keep that in mind -- that I loved them -- even though they were both world-class shitheels.

... whoever killed him had tried to burn off his fingerprints -- the tips on both hands were scorched black, which meant that the killer was an amateur: the only way to eliminate prints is to do some chopping.

"Gravy Train" similarly features Stan "The Man" Klein (from the Underworld USA series) with one of the oddest premises yet. A tycoon "left a twenty-five million dollar estate to his dog. It's legally inviolate and so well safeguarded that [Klein's lawyer associate] can't contest it or scam it. [Klein is] the dog's new keeper."
Not only is the plot humorous and inviting, but Klein is obsessed with his new neighbor... before he starts to suspect her:

"I empathize. Want to have dinner some time?"
"I think not."
"I'll try again then."
"The answer won't change. Do you do other work for the Bendish estate? Besides walk the man's dog, I mean."
"I look after the house. Come over some time. Bring your Lab, we'll double."
"Do you thrive on rejections, Mr. Klein?"
Basko was trying to hump the Lab -- but no go. "Yeah, I do."
"Well, until the next one, then. Good day."

It has some choice gritty, iconic noir lines:

I kicked the day's third corpse off of me, stumbled to the bathroom, rummaged through the medicine cabinet, and found witch hazel.

My trigger finger itched to dispense .45 caliber justice.

"Torch Number":
At this point it's tricky to remember how many chase scenes have appeared, but each is powerful and unique. The visual dynamic is perfectly framed... the reader might easily pluck one of those fluttering bills!

a car swerved in front of me and a large man jumped out, aimed, and fired at the running figure -- once, twice, three times. A fourth shot sent Bob Murikami spiraling over the cliff, the money bag sailing, spilling greenbacks. I pulled my roscoe, shot the shooter in the back, and watched him go down in a clump of crabgrass.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ashamed to say, that this was my first foray into the dark world of Ellroy. It won't be the last. Not all the stories are classics (some could be left out altogether) and without a reread I would be hard pushed to name a favourite. If, like me, you're yet to read the long acclaimed master of L. A. Noir, this is as good as any place to start.

[Kurt Reichenbaugh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dick Contino's Blues and fringe stories from the L.A. Quartet. Dick Contino is an interesting choice for a hero, and if you've seen DADDY-O you'll get more out of it, even if you've only seen the MST-3000 version.

[Bob Stinner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Six short stories in the familiar brutal Ellroy style. Characters that are familiar to fans of his other works. I don't know the order and I can't be arsed to look them up, so I'm not sure if these are precursors or successors, but they all follow similar tragicomic paths. Dig: short sentences. Dig: "of the time" slang such as, well, such as "dig", and "givesky", and "nix", and one of my favorites that I can only read in the voice of Bud White (Russell Crowe in the best movie released in 1997, L.A. Confidential), "shitbird". It's all there and it's pretty damn good, even if a little too jumpily-paced in a few areas. The longer and much more densely involved L.A. Quartet works explain how wanton murder is gotten away with. In Hollywood Nocturnes, murder happens and is kinda just...brushed away. I get it. They're short stories, but it's one-star-deductingly off-putting to see responsibility for three or four (I lost count) homicides conveniently dissipating or transferring to some other shitbird jus to wrap things up. I dunno, maybe that's just me.

The good Ellroy stuff is splattered throughout though, much like the brains and dental work of the criminals who get what's coming to them in the stories themselves. The tricks of the 1940s private investigation trade are here too. As are the Ellroy hallmarks: Russian roulette, perverts and creeps, oh and racist language galore. If you're going to write abotu 1940s/50s Los Angeles, you can't do it without that kind of talk, daddy-o.

What's best though is seeing the depth of Ellroy's characters in smaller side stories. How I feel about the L.A. Quartet and Underworld Trilogy books definitely paints my opinion here, but knowing these guys exist within this incredibly well-developed world makes it fun to read. I like this world. To read about anyway. If you're a fan of his longer stuff, you'll probably like it too. If you're not familiar with his work, and can handle the rougher qualities mentioned, this is a great police/detective fiction collection.

[Michael Chasin · Rating 5 out of 5]

The novella making up the first half and the penultimate story, Gravy Train, are both basically perfect. And the rest is really good as well.

[Jeremy Hunter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everything you would expect from a collection of James Ellroy short stories; dirty cops, lowlifes, and fem fatales wandering around the seedy underbelly of Postwas Los Angeles.

[Patrick DiJusto · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kats and Kittens, this book is a big bad bennie blast through the dank dark highways and alleyways of the most perfect place on planet Earth-Ellroy : the City of Angels in that gonad-grabbing smart, swank segue between WWII and Watergate. Like all Ellroy's works, it revolves around the twin axis of cops and Ellroy himself: good cops, bad cops, ex-cops, top cops; panty-sniffing cops, drug-dealing cops, thug-beating cops; cops with the shakes, cops on the take, cops on the make -- all of them heroes to themselves, all of them a little bit Ellroy.

[Andy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sensational compilation of short works by the Clown Prince of Lurid, James Ellroy. The centerpiece of this collection is his novella, "Dick Contino's Blues", about a dull B-movie star turned superhero. I thought most of the stories were okay in a bad Fifties detective show-meets-Dragnet kind of way. The noir tag, however doesn't fit Ellroy as I don't quite see him rubbing elbows with David Goodis or Jim Thompson, both of whom would probably scare the shit out of him.

[paper0r0ss0 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Raccolta abbastanza anonima e indisponenente di articoli, racconti brevi e qualche abbozzo di romanzo che poteva essere. Persino il tema dell'omicidio della madre che ne "I miei luoghi oscuri" aveva brillato di una terribile luce catartica (spegnendo probabilmente il fuoco sacro dello scrittore) viene qui trattato in maniera superficiale e compulsiva, quasi a comando. Si salva solo il breve racconto con protagonista Dick Contino.

[David H. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Humor and history are two of my favorite subjects. James Ellroy's Dick Contino story is full of laughs. Ellroy goes nuts with alliteration in this and other tales. There are plenty of insults for everybody (Blacks, Jews, Latinos, etc) but this book is sooo much fun. I got to meet Ellroy and take a photo with him. Real nut. One of my favorite writers.

[Greg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely style over substance in most of these stories. And in a few, it's almost impossible to find the substance. The high point for me was the short entitled "Since I Don't Have You" as I enjoyed the appearance of Howard Hughes in late-1940s Los Angeles. Hyper-violent and trashy, and yes, it's the one and only James Ellroy.

[gaby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ellroy strikes again as always. His Los Angeles -- so personal, elemental, brutal -- ripped sideways to share with us a few glamorous, grotesque postcards. Perfectly lit nightmares; the backlighting just right, the curtains adjusted just so. He's sick LA's master set designer. It's a pleasure to lurk in his rooms, for however long his pages allow.

[John Devlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tightly drawn characters battling for some crude sense of justice and sanity in a world where the world turns a deaf ear to depravity as long as it's on the side of the Law.

[Janet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just love the music of an Ellroy sentence. Great noir short stories. I go for the novels over short stories in general, but highly flavored appetizers make great meals too.

[Alan Gerstle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not quite sure what the term "perverse" means when it is applied to something not focused on the sexual. but the word would best fit much of Ellroy's writing if the definition were something like "the opposite of what would anticipate resulting in a response that defies logic, norms, sensibilities, or beliefs." In that regard Ellroy's fiction is sometimes perverse considering his diction, tone, subject matter, language, and implicit expections. For example, in the novel 'Perfidia,' which takes place in WW II Los Angeles, a surgeon is offering plastic surgery to foreign or American-born Japanese so they will look less Japanese, and more like a less stigmatized Asian group like the Chinese. Ellroy also adds subplot in the novel wherein it is discovered the Japanese living on the West Coast, have, in fact, a large number of spies embedded in the population, perhaps warranting the population's incarceration in special camps. It also turns out that quite a few Japanese are drug-dealers and drug addicts. Thus, the image of the dedicated, hard working Japanese portrayed as being hapless victims of jingoism is challenged. Of course, this is for effect, but it's an interesting literary effect. The connected short stories and novelas in Hollywood Nocturnes are filled with similar 'perversions,' including a hard-boiled, hardcore gangster-like vocabulary the narrators use, thus breaking the convenion of the standard affluent, well-educated narrator one comes to expect in literary fiction. According to the author, in his preface, many of the story ideas arose from a feature film that spoke to Ellroy's sensibility. Even a plot summary of the book provided on Ellroy's own website captures the tone, attitude, and world making talents of the author: Dig it. A famous musician-cum-draft dodger is plotting the perfect celebrity snatch–his own:
AN ex-con raging on revenge in High Darktown becomes a cop’s worst nightmare. While
chasing kidnappers, two cops stumble on an Okie town as bloody as the O.K. Corral. A strongarm
for Howard Hughes and mobster Mickey Cohen finds himself playing both ends against the middle, all for a murderously magnificent moll. This is L.A., Ellroy-style—corrupt cops, goons with guns, rattling roadsters—and all in the staccato rhythm of the streets. Hollywood Nocturnes, a novella and five short stories, shows us the seedy side of glamorous Hollywood, laid out like a corpse in the MORGUE.

So shed your belle lettrist sensibilities, your highly educated linguistic patterns, your comfortable middle class, bohemian, post-modernistic inclinations, and dive into the cognitive sewer system of Ellroy's mind. You'll expand your horizons, or possibly retract them.

[Jack Bell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've sometimes wondered how well-studied James Ellroy's hyper-condensed, detailed, and ultra-impactful prose style would be for short stories. And with this collection, I finally have some perspective on the matter: yes, I was right in the fact that his style is perfect for short fiction... but it turns out it's his ambition that's a letdown for the medium.

Ellroy thinks big. That's nothing new, but it's what makes these stories — which are for the most part totally well-written and fun — feel like entertaining throwaways that colour and shade little corners of his (for lack of a better term...) expanded universe, and not much more.

"Dick Contino's Blues" is the lynchpin of the collection, and rightfully so: it's absolutely top-tier Ellroy. Furious, funny, and an instant classic of his oeuvre — if that's the sole reason for this book existing, then it's worth it.

The others stories are a mixed bag. The two Lee Blanchard stories, "High Darktown" and "Dial Axminster 6-400" are fun but feel like the closest Ellroy ever came to simply doing hardboiled pastiche. They read like Dashiell Hammett stories where Blanchard can be swapped out for the Continental Op... and apeing another writer's style or plot structures is just not something I've ever really associated with someone as insistently individualistic as James Ellroy.

"Since I Don't Have You" and "Torch Number" are really good little noirish mysteries, even if the former was clearly written before Ellroy decided to kill off its narrator Buzz Meeks in L.A. Confidential (and didn't choose to retcon this detail), as well as being chock full of anachronisms on top of that. But "Gravy Train" feels incongruous in being the only story set in the present day — and is just kind of tiring at the same time.

So on the whole, an inessential but harmless collection. And one where all the typical Ellroy tropes are here in bite-sized forms: obsessive protagonists who all pretty much think and speak the same, cascades of casual slurs, femmes that are cherchezed, uneasy yanks between hyperrealism and semi-surrealistic exaggeration, a dog-lover's cast of violent yet loveable bulldogs and bloodhounds, and the phrase "JFK was hung like a cashew" (which at this point I'm pretty sure I can find in every single published Ellroy work, if I really wanted to. The man clearly loves this quote to death).

[Francesca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un noir dalle atmosfere fumose che racconta di una Los Angeles negli anni '50.

Il libro si compone di un romanzo breve e cinque racconti ambientati nella città degli angeli, sporca e corrotta, dove tra intrighi torbidi, che seguono il mondo dello spettacolo e della criminalità organizzata, si muovono poliziotti corrotti, ex criminali, prostitute e detectives privati. Le vicende sono spesso estreme, esagerate, al limite dell’incredibile, il linguaggio forte e con ampio uso di slang.

I racconti che più mi hanno colpito sono:

• "Il blues di Dick Contino": preceduto da un'introduzione in cui l'autore ripercorre l'origine del personaggio basato sul musicista omonimo, presenta una trama intricata e dallo sviluppo imprevedibile con sempre maggioripossibilità. Il racconto è ricchissimo di dettagli di contorno, come personaggi, locali, riviste d’epoca, musica, usati in modo eccellente da ricreare le atmosfere dell'America degli anni '50.

Ellroy è eccezionale nella capacità di inserire i dettagli decisivi senza insospettire minimamente il lettore, ed è abile anche nel creare false piste: la storia è ricca di sottotrame, il fraseggio è breve ed intenso che ti porta a leggere pagina dopo pagina e poi tornare indietro, una volta capita la soluzione, a rileggere i punti chiave.

• "Conflitto d’interessi": al centro della storia c'è la femme fatale di turno che fa girare la testa al boss Mickey Cohen e al produttore Howard Hughes.

• "Canzone d’amore": con un'altra femme fatale come protagonista, vediamo come le ricerche di un detective privato vengono sconvolte da una donna misteriosa.

In entrambi ho ritrovato il desiderio di riscatto, desiderio che il più delle volte porta a scelte azzardate che possono portare a percorrere strade disseminate di pericoli e a far prendere scelte catastrofiche.

[Carlos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Los investigadores privados de Chandler y Hammett eran rudos, resolvían la situación a golpes o incluso a balazos, y trataban a las mujeres de forma tan mezquina y ofensiva que hoy tendrían que ser modificados para volverse “políticamente correctos” y no ofender a nadie. No obstante, dichas novelas no eran tan sórdidas y descarnadas como los relatos que aparecen en “Noches en Hollywood”, una recopilación de seis cuentos de James Ellroy.
El cuento que abre la antología (y que es el más largo, casi una novela breve) es “El blues de Dick Contino”, el cual presenta precisamente a Dick, un acordeonista que supo labrarse un lugar en la meca del cine de mediados del siglo pasado, aunque lo dejó perder por sus constantes desplantes por influjo etílico u hormonal. Por ello, para relanzar su carrera, se le ocurre una terrible solución: fingir un secuestro… y nada menos que el propio. Obviamente, una broma de tan mal gusto debe terminar mal.
El resto de los relatos se ambientan asimismo en la ciudad de Los Ángeles, entre 1947 y 1959. De nueva cuenta, la visión de Ellroy nos presenta lo más crudo del lado humano: policías corruptos, prostitutas, estafadores, matones sin una pizca de congoja por los destripamientos, las mutilaciones y los desmembramientos (y vaya que son bastantes; Ellroy no escatima el conteo de glóbulos rojos).
Los textos son muy, pero muy gráficos, brutales, lo cual no los vuelve buenos, pero sí bastante entretenidos, y mucho más cercanos a la realidad que se vive cuando salimos de nuestra burbuja.

[Dylan Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Diving into Ellroy's first short fiction work reveals why the man's books work best when they go big.

The stories themselves were all not too bad, featuring side characters from the LA Quartet. Protagonists from The Black Dahlia and The Big Nowhere also get a chance to reappear here. Buzz Meeks' return in "Since I Don't Have You" was particularly welcome.

He also predicts the gist of his 2nd LA Quarted by having the closing story, "Torch Number" be set in the weeks after Pearl Harbor.

Interestingly, Hollywood Nocturnes features what I believe is Ellroy's last contemporarily-set story. It is not stated exactly when "Gravy Train" takes place, but the references to the crack epidemic, and that Mickey Cohen had died means it takes place in at least the 1980s, almost science fiction years for Ellroy. It was also my favourite story of the bunch, being the least rushed.

That gets into the main flaw of the book. All of the stories are too rushed. Ellroy works best when he has the pages to setup evil conspiracies and mysteries. These stories have to wind themselves up in 40 or so pages. It's just not enough time to let the (still excellent) use of language sink in.

Worth it for completionists and fans alike, but not essential for the casual Ellroy fan

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first story in the book was far and away my favorite.

None of the stories were bad. They were all gripping, they all held my interest very well. It's not as though I felt I read one knockout story and a bunch of duds-- one or two came close here and there but fell short or took a twist I disliked enough to push them down in the polls, and I came away with a clear favorite without feeling the collection was uneven.

A lot of Ellroy protagonists are fundamentally difficult to like. Normally I stop caring about a book when I can't care about the hero, and Ellroy writes a world where heroes are few and far between, or far from what they seem. But I love film noir, and that's the feeling that Ellroy captures.

I wouldn't put 'Hollywood Nocturnes' up with my lifelong favorites. But I enjoyed it the entire time I was reading it, whether or not I could find it in me to like the characters I was on a journey with. And sometimes, likable or not, I found myself caring about how they made out in the end.

[Randy Money · Rating 3 out of 5]

The short stories/novellas in this collection move quickly, accompanied by violence, sexual inuendo, and more violence: If you graft the real (probably) street language of the 1940s onto the fiction from the original Black Mask magazine, these are likely the stories you would get.

"Dick Contino's Blues" is the longest story, a short novel, starring a real entertainer, a singer/accordion player who had a vogue in the late 1930s and lost it, trying in the mid-'50s to revive his career: Check out his IMDB listing. Written in bebop sentences, fragments tagging along after each other that by their brevity turbo-charge the story's pace, this demonstrates a sense of humor, even of the absurd, that I hadn't before realized Ellroy possessed.

The other stories vary in tone from humorous ("Gravy Train") to love-stricken ("Torch Song"), and all are noir and violent.

If you're not put off by noir and noir ethics and violence, it's a fine collection.

[Juan Carlos · Rating 3 out of 5]

"El blues de Dick Contino", aunque se publicó en forma independiente el año 1982, en nuestro país no ha aparecido nunca separado de otros relatos más cortos. Fue en 1994 cuando se publicó "Noches de Hollywood" que incluye, además de esta novela corta, otros seis relatos más. Es el volumen en el que yo he leído esta historia del real acordeonista Dick Contino a quien toda su vida le persiguió la leyenda negra de desertor al haberse librado de ir a combatir a Corea por un ardid que utilizó para ello.
"El blues de Dick Contino" es un James Ellroy en plena forma. Digo en plena forma porque al leerlo he recordado otras lecturas de este escritor norteamericano que me agradaron en su día; me refiero concretamente a la "Dalia negra" y "L.A. Confidencial", dos novelas largas que leí tras el inmenso disfrute que me produjeron sus versiones cinematográficas: la primera realizada por Brian de Palma; la segunda, por Curtis Hanson.

[Darwin8u · Rating 3 out of 5]

The great thing about reading this 1994 collection of short-stories by Ellroy is how many of the characters appear in later novels. Definitely feels like unreleased tracks from the still unfinished The L.A. Quintet and the Underworld USA Trilogy. These stories feel like scenes from one novel or another. Like the foetuses of future characters swimming in this pulp womb until they emerge in one or another of Ellory's later novels. Stand alone, it's ok. But for the big fan, it is nice to see the sausage being made, broken and burned.

Stories included:

"Out of the Past"
"Dick Contino's Blues"
"High Darktown"
"Dial Axminster 6-400"
"Since I Don't Have You"
"Gravy Train"
"Torch Number"