Novelist James Ellroy has become one of the most acclaimed figures in crime fiction with his hard-edged, nihilistic stories of cops walking the fine line of ethics and reason as they chase people who commit unspeakable crimes with bizarre motivations. The success of the film L.A. Confidential, based on Ellroy's novel, has brought his work to a wider audience, and this documentary looks at Ellroy's life and work, examining his current working methods, his bouts with drugs and alcohol as a young adult, his relationship with Los Angeles (the city where most of his books have been set) and how the murder of his mother has affected him from his childhood to the present day. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi