Brown’s Requiem (1981) - James Ellroy

Written by James Ellroy
Read by R. C. Bray
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 64 Kbps
Unabridged

Publisher: HighBridge
Release date: June 5, 2012
Duration: 09:25:47

James Ellroy’s first published novel.

When P.I. Fritz Brown undertakes an investigation into blood money changing hands at a golf course, he plunges into a nightmare of arson, corruption, and porn.

Fritz Brown’s L.A.–and his life–are masses of contradictions, like stirring chorales sung for the dead. A less-than-spotless former cop with a drinking problem–a private eye-cum-repo man with a taste for great music–he has been known to wallow in the grime beneath the Hollywood glitter. But Fritz Brown’s life is about to change; thanks to the appearance of a racist psycho who flashes too much cash for golf caddie and who walked away clean from a multiple murder rap.

Reopening this case could be Fritz’s redemption; his welcome back to a moral world and his path to a pure and perfect love. But to get there, he must make it through a grim, lightless place where evil has no national borders; where lies beget lies and death begets death; where there’s little tolerance for Bach or Beethoven and deadly arson is a lesser mortal sin; and where a PI.’s unhealthy interest in the past can turn beautiful music into funeral dirge.

“R.C. Bray’s terse delivery is a perfect complement to Ellroy’s tight style. Bray’s portrayal of private eye Fritz Brown sounds tough but warm, which is just what we’d expect from a former L.A. cop and recovering alcoholic with a passion for classical music. The story follows Brown in his attempt to solve a series of twenty-year-old crimes and cover-ups that lead up to a present-day conspiracy, all the while dealing with his own demons. Bray’s narration is as dogged as Brown’s quest, and it lures the listener in.”—AudioFile