James Ellroy’s Beautifully Poetic Foreword to Black Dahlia Avenger Removed In 2010 at Author Steve Hodel’s Request – The How and Why of It
September 7, 2024
Birch Bay, Washington
Over the years, I have received numerous queries as to why I removed author James Ellroy’s Foreword from current and future printings of my true crime book, Black Dahlia Avenger: A Genius for Murder.
Firstly, I suggest you read James Ellroy’s beautifully poetic three-page Foreword as he wrote it and as it appeared in the First paperback edition of Black Dahlia Avenger in 2004 and 2006.
Here it is:
Steve Hodel and James Ellroy
(Photo taken at LAPD Police Historical Museum circa 2004)
Excerpts from James Ellroy’s Foreword to the Black Dahlia Avenger (HarperCollins 2004-2006)
,,,
“We can only glimpse who Betty Short was—but now we know who killed her and why.”Steve Hodel convinced me. His knowledge is conclusively cataloged in this book. I began the book unimpressed and came away converted. Black Dahlia Avenger is a densely packed evidence exhibit and a treatise on the aesthetic of evil. It’s a rich story of late ‘40s L.A. and an indictment of official negligence and obfuscation.”
JAMES ELLROY (2004)
Below is a verbatim sound byte from the television show CBS 48 HOURS- Black Dahlia Confidential, produced by David Browning, which originally aired on 11/27/04. In this section of the hour-special, reporter Erin Moriarty has just indicated that Los Angeles County Head Deputy D.A. Stephen Kay is in strong support of my investigation and believes that Dr. George Hodel was, in fact, the Black Dahlia murderer. She follows that with an interview with Ellroy:
Investigative reporter Erin Moriarty: Crime novelist James Ellroy is also convinced.
James Ellroy: “I think Steve Hodel is a good and noble guy. I think he solved the Black Dahlia murder case.”
Click below to play the sound byte from the program
Producer David Browning, Erin, Roberta, and Steve
Sowden/Franklin House filming 48 Hours Black Dahlia Confidential (2003)
(NB: CBS re-aired the program Black Dahlia Confidential for the fourth time on August 29, 2006, at 10 pm.) Due to the time difference, that meant it aired at the same time the De Palma/Ellroy “Black Dahlia” film showed at the Venice Film Festival.)
I actually provided a lengthy answer to the HOW and WHY I decided to have my publishers remove Ellroy’s Foreword from future publications of BDA. The explanation was in response to a 2010 letter to a French journalist, Stephane Boulan, who asked Ellroy at a book signing in Paris if he thought that the surrealist artist Man Ray (a close friend of Dr. George Hodel’s for ten years in Hollywood) “was also involved in the Black Dahlia Murder.”
At that point, Ellroy decided to “claim he was stupid, and made a mistake and that we will never know” and said he no longer would speak about the Black Dahlia. (See the link below for a detailed explanation in my “Open Letter” to Mssr. Boulan.)
Upon learning of Ellroy’s “second thoughts,” I immediately contacted my publisher and ordered that “if Ellroy no longer believes in the solution, then I want his “Foreword” removed from all future printings, which has been the case for the past fifteen years.
The reasons why I believe he changed his mind were obvious. (At least to me.) I believe he had tremendous pressure from his many friends at LAPD, who were angered at his endorsement of their/my Department’s “official negligence and obfuscation.” (Think coverup.) Further, the Hollywood Suits making his fictional version of the “Black Dahlia” film, who had just spent 75 million, did not want to hear him claiming “case solved” out of fear of it hurting box office sales. I can hear them pressuring him, “Will you please shut up about Hodel solving the Dahlia murder.”
Part of me actually felt sorry for him. That’s a lot of pressure, and he sure did not want the LAPD to abandon him. At the same time, their Black Dahlia investigator, Brian Carr, was saying, “I don’t know if Steve Hodel solved it or not. I don’t have time to look at Hodel’s investigation. I’m too busy with other murders.”
An Open Letter to French Journalist Stephane Boulan re. James Ellroy and Black Dahlia Avenger
I’m not surprised he flip-flopped. He spent years as a thief before writing. Sam Meier, the Hollywood writer who told me about GHH, also knew Ellroy in passing. He said Ellroy (like in the 70s) would rob you the second you turned your back. Anyway, he’s a great writer but I thought I’d add this in case it helps you assess the incident.