Life of William Faulkner: The Past is Never Dead

 

The anniversary of the day William Faulkner was born just passed (September 25). I just finished this newer biography about him. It was really interesting, I enjoyed it. It's Volume 1 (I didn't realize that when I bought it, so now I have to go buy the second volume. Oh no! I hate buying books 😉). Rollyson dug deep into each of Faulkner's books, so it was like a combination biography/literary study. Such a fascinating man! Now I'm really in the mood to re-read some of my favorites, but I know I shouldn't. 

Blood on the Moon

So this is the first book about Detective Lloyd Hopkins. It starts out with him as a cadet during the Watts Riots. Fast forward twenty years and Hopkins is a legendary detective who is given a lot of autonomy. His wife is leaving him because he keeps talking about his work in graphic detail to his impressionable young daughters. Hopkins insists he does it to make them aware of the dangers in the world. 

Innocent young women are being brutally butchered, and Hopkins is convinced L.A. has a serial killer on the loose but the higher ups think he's finally lost his last marble. He goes rogue and of course he was right but a lot of people got hurt in the process. 
 

Because the Night

 

It's no secret I love James Ellroy. A lot. I liked this one, but it was different from his other books. He didn't use any of the fun noir slang, but it was set in the mid-80s, not the 50s or 60s, so I suppose that played into it. 

Detective Lloyd Hopkins is assigned a grisly triple homicide in a liquor store when he finds out a hero cop named Jack Herzog. He is able to link the two together and his investigation takes him on some crazy twists and turns throughout L.A.