Brown's Requiem (The Armchair Detective Library) [Hardcover]

James Ellroy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1994 | Series: The Armchair Detective Library

A reissue of Ellroy's first novel. This is the story of Fritz Brown's nightmare, played out in the underworld of golf caddies, arson and incest, against a backdrop of Los Angeles - surreal by night and bad by day. Brown, the ex-alcoholic private eye, is driven back to the bottle and the gun.

--This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Before he began to remap the geography of the crime novel and venture out into the darkest noir night of them all with L.A. Confidential, The Black Dahlia, White Jazz, and American Tabloid, James Ellroy started his career with this powerful but basically straightforward book about Los Angeles private eye Fritz Brown. At first glance, the story of an investigation into a crooked golf tournament that opens up to include arson and murder could be just another work by any one of the dozens of good writers who have used Southern California as a metaphor for the decline and fall of civilization. But behind the terse prose, astute readers will soon begin to hear something else--the increasingly loud clamor of a cry of pain that will eventually become the barely manageable madness of Ellroy's later books. --Dick Adler --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Review

"Crime, corruption, and obsessive sex...the most acclaimed noir writer of the past twenty years." -- "Mystery News""Hard-bitten...ingenious...Ellroy segues into political intrigue without missing a beat." -- "The New York Times" --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Otto Penzler Books; Limited edition (August 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1562870688
• ISBN-13: 978-1562870683
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,647,144 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

James Ellroy was born in Los Angeles in 1948. He is the author of the acclaimed L.A. Qurtet - The Black Dahlia, The Big Nowhere, LA Confidential and White Jazz, as well as the Underworld USA trilogy: American Tabloid, The Cold Six Thousand and Blood's a Rover. He is the author of one work of non-fiction, The Hilliker Curse: My Pursuit of Women. Ellroy lives in Los Angeles.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

64 of 68 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ellroy's First Kicks Ass, December 8, 2000

By 

Edward C. Goodman (Jacksonville, Florida United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Brown's Requiem (Paperback)

Getting into Ellroy? Why not start at the beginning? Watch his style develop. I think folks get disappointed when they read this and other earlier works after they read "the hits" like "L.A. Confidential" and "American Tabloid." But hey, had he come out of the gates with "American Tabloid" he'd probably be done by now. Fortunately for us, Ellroy started off slow. "Brown's Requiem" is a much more straightforward hard-boiled novel. But just like his later work, it rocks, it rolls, it leaves you on the side of the road hitchiking back to town. As I read this book, I couldn't help thinking of it as an updated "The Big Sleep." It has that sad, broken, 3 am undertone to it. If you dig that tough, L.A. stuff, you'll dig this. Note: The story does involve caddies and golf (which I know nothing about) but it doesn't matter. The golf element is merely a backdrop. The book is also about murder, arson and Mexican porn and, regardless of what my friends will tell you, I know nothing about these subjects either and still enjoyed the Hell out this book. Put it this way: You won't be reading any excerpts from "Brown's Requiem" in "Chicken Soup for the Golfer's Soul."

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars solid crime novel but not his best, November 20, 1999

By 

Michael Toland (Austin, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Brown's Requiem (Paperback)

This was Ellroy's first published novel. It's a good, solid crime novel. It's mostly in the tradition of his predecessors like Chandler and Hammett, but some of his future trademarks are there, like the seedy anti-hero who eventually discovers and follows his own moral imperative. It's a bit bumpy in spots, and sometimes the plot falls into place a bit too neatly, but it's a good read. It's not nearly as amazing as the L.A. Quartet or American Tabloid, all brilliant books for which he has become justifiably famous. I read this after reading those (as well as My Dark Places and Crime Wave). Had I read this first, I would have been shocked by his later work. Maybe The Black Dahlia is a better place to start for the Ellroy novice.. This one seems almost quaint in comparison.

28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great P.I. Fiction, February 6, 2001

By 

Brian D. Rubendall (Oakton, VA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Brown's Requiem (Paperback)

I am not a James Ellroy fan. In fact, "Brown's Requiem" is the only novel of his that I have read, because it is the only one of his books I've found that is a straight private detective story. And as an example of the that genre, this books stands among the best. Ellroy's hero, Fritz Brown, is everything a good P.I. should be; world weary, cynical, alcoholic and carrying heavy baggage from his past. He also has plenty of good character eccentricities, like a fascination for classical music. He is also prone to make that classic P.I. mistake, to fall in love with a woman he knows he probably shouldn't fall in love with.

All of this said the book takes some unexpected twists and turns. Brown ends up investigating his own client, his romantic interest turns out to have a VERY complicated past and his case turns out to be far more elaboarate than it first appears. All of this leads to a violent and satisfying climax, like any good P.I. novel should. Fans of P.I. masters such Andrew Vachss, George Pellecanos and yes, Raymond Chandler, out to be right at home with Fritz Brown.