James Ellroy Declares Red Sheet His Greatest Book

James Ellroy has another book, and he thinks it’s the best one he’s ever written.

That might sound like standard author confidence, but Ellroy isn’t just pitching a new release. He’s positioning Red Sheet as the capstone of his life’s work in Los Angeles literature. For folks on the Western Slope who’ve watched this author settle into Colorado life, the question is whether his claim holds up against the weight of his previous successes.

Ellroy currently lives here, but his literary heart remains in Southern California. He’s the mind behind the Underworld U.S.A. Trilogy and the L.A. Quartet, books that map the crime, politics, and smog of Los Angeles from the 1940s through the 1980s. Now, with Red Sheet, he’s returning to that smog-bound fatherland with a story set in the fall of 1962.

The novel follows Freddy Otash, a character readers have seen before — a cop turned corrupt private eye. But this time, the scope is wider. It’s not just about one murder or one case. It’s a complete social and criminal history of L.A., filtered through the lens of a specific, tense moment in American history.

“It is a complete social and criminal history of L.A., my smog-bound fatherland,” Ellroy told SunLit editor Kevin Simpson.

The timing matters. It’s October 1962. The Cuban Missile Crisis has just passed, with the Soviets pulling their missiles out of Cuba. But Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy isn’t celebrating. He’s worried about communist backlash, and he orders an investigation. Meanwhile, Richard Nixon, the defeated vice president who lost to Kennedy in 1960, is running for governor of California. He’s behind in the polls and heading toward what Ellroy calls “Shitsville, USA.”

That political tension runs parallel to the crime. There’s a murder on Halloween night and another double murder from 1954 that keeps resurfacing. Ellroy calls RFK “Ratfuck Bobby,” noting that while JFK and RFK had their finest moment with the crisis, it wasn’t enough for the man.

To hear Ellroy tell it, Red Sheet isn’t just another entry in his catalog. It’s the culmination.

“I think it’s my best book,” Ellroy said. “It’s my most outrageous book. It’s my most geopolitically deep book. It’s my most moving book. I think it’s my greatest book.”

The math holds up if you look at the cast of characters. Ellroy isn’t relying on familiar faces alone. The LAPD has rounded up a mix of communists, apostate communists, and colorful figures like Henry Cathcart Wilkins. Wilkins is a black man, a former communist who later became the Burgermeister of L.A.’s Negro Nazi League.

Ellroy describes a scene where Freddy Otash and D.J. Siemers, another former communist, question these suspects and “bait them.” It’s, in his words, a “riotous scene.”

For locals who appreciate complex narratives and deep cuts into regional history, this feels like a natural evolution for an author who has made Colorado his home while keeping his eyes on L.A. The book includes an excerpt from Chapter 4, highlighting this unusual lineup of suspects.

The question now is whether readers will buy into his assertion that this is the peak of his career. Ellroy has built a reputation for dense, fast-paced prose that covers vast amounts of ground. Red Sheet appears to be his most ambitious attempt yet to tie it all together.

“I think it’s my greatest book,” Ellroy said, leaving little room for doubt.