SUMMARY: Christmas 1951, Los Angeles: A City Where The Police Are As Corrupt As The Criminals. Six Prisoners Are Beaten Senseless In Their Cells By Cops Crazed On Alcohol. For The Three L. A. P. D. Detectives Involved, It Will Expose The Guilty Secrets On Which They Have Built Their Corrupt And Violent Careers- Praise For L. A. Confidential: 'Ellroy Writes As If Driven By Demons. His Brutal, Staccato Graffiti Tips Over Into Art' Sunday Times 'No Emotion Is Spared; The Writing Is Sparse, The Plotting Controlled. Not For The Faint Of Heart, This Is A Big, Powerful Crime Novel And Possibly The First Important Example Of The Genre In The 1990S' Sunday Telegraph 'Empty Of Any Unessentials And Full Of Wise-Cracking Wit' Mail On Sunday 'Unputdownable' Time Out