Clandestine (novel)

Clandestine
First edition
AuthorJames Ellroy
LanguageEnglish
GenreCrime fiction
PublisherAvon Books
Publication placeUnited States
ISBN0-380-81141-3
OCLC40775390
Preceded byBrown's Requiem (1981) 
Followed byBlood on the Moon (1984) 

Clandestine is a 1982 crime novel by American author James Ellroy.[1] His second novel (after Brown's Requiem), it was initially published by Avon Books in the US, with the first UK edition being published by Allison and Busby in 1984.[2] Ellroy dedicated Clandestine, "to Penny Nagler".

The novel is set in 1951,[3] and the protagonist is ambitious LAPD Officer Fred Underhill, a young cop on the rise, working out of the Wilshire station. He covers the beat with his partner Herbert Lawton "Wacky" Walker, a World War II veteran with a Medal of Honor, a drinking problem, and an obsession with death. Underhill and Walker discover the mutilated and strangled corpse of a young secretary. The trail leads to other murders, new and old, and a beautiful crippled district attorney named Lorna Weinberg.

Several characters from Ellroy's later L.A. Quartet series first appear here, including police lieutenant Dudley Smith, Michael Breuning, and Richard Carlisle.

Clandestine earned Ellroy an Edgar Award nomination from Mystery Writers of America in 1982.[4]

References

  1. ^ Concise Major 21st-Century Writers. Thompson Gale. 2006. ISBN 9781414410487. Retrieved 18 May 2012.
  2. ^ "Ellroy, James". Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved May 6, 2024.
  3. ^ Banville, Vincent (30 January 1999). "Clandestine, by James Ellroy". The Irish Times. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
  4. ^ Matthews, Tracey L. (2006). "Ellroy, James 1948–". Concise Major 21st-Century Writers: A Selection of Sketches from Contemporary Authors. Thomson Gale. ISBN 9780787675394.


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