Red Sheet

The relentless latest from MWA Grand Master Ellroy (The Enchanters) immerses readers in 1962 L.A. in the fraught aftermath of the Cuban Missile Crisis. When Attorney General Robert Kennedy launches a sweeping anti-communist crackdown, Freddy Otash, a drug-addicted LAPD officer, is thrust into the heart of the storm. Otash’s initial inquiry focuses on the Creative Trade Workers Alliance, a communist-affiliated union mired in corruption, drug trafficking, and political violence, and soon intersects with the racially charged battle over California’s Rumford Fair Housing Act, which disallows discrimination in public housing. Along the way, Otash crosses paths with real-life figures including civil rights leader Tom Bradley and Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, as well as fictional union bosses who blur the boundaries between crime and politics. The brutal murder of a communist courier and a string of unsolved homicides deepen the intrigue as Otash navigates betrayals and ideological rifts within the LAPD and beyond, culminating in a tense showdown involving secret safe houses and a shadowy organization known as the Indigenous Cell. Ellroy’s dense, slang-laced prose paints a brooding portrait of a city awash in Cold War anxiety. It’s a rewarding ride for noir fans. Agent: Andrew Wylie, Wylie Agency. (June)

Correction: An earlier verison of ths review referred to the lead character by the wrong name.