What:
Police Chief William Bratton and best-selling author James Ellroy present Scene of the Crime: Photographs from the LAPD Archive – the new that book provides a dark and harrowing trip through the LAPD crime scene photo archives. This unique, film noir-inspired book signing event will feature great visuals and interview opportunities (see below)

Who:
Police Chief William J. Bratton, James Ellroy - best-selling author of crime fiction books such as The Black Dahlia, The Big Nowhere, L.A. Confidential, White Jazz, American Tabloid, and the recently released Destination Morgue.

When:
Thursday, November 18, 2004

• 6:30 – 6:45 p.m. - Arrivals (Chief Bratton/James Elroy)
• 6:45 – 7:15 p.m. - Interviews
• 7:15 – 9:00 p.m. - Remarks/Book Signing

Where:
Book Soup
8818 Sunset Boulevard
West Hollywood
(Holloway Drive between Doheny and La Cienega)
310-659-3110

Visuals: Chief Bratton’s arrival in a vintage police car. Crime scene symbols and icons (e.g., store frontage/windows cordoned off with police “do not cross” tape, chalk body outlines on the sidewalk), elaborate “Scene of the Crime” book display.

Contact:
Erik Deutsch Cynthia Berry
Rainmaker & Sun Book Soup
323-851-2455 (direct)
310-659-3684
310-570-0244 (cell)

About Scene of the Crime: Photographs from the LAPD Archive

Los Angeles in the decades after the Depression was a smoldering powder keg of vice, corruption, violence, and some of the most sensational crimes in American history. These included the Black Dahlia slaying, the Onion Field murder, silent film star Thelma Todd’s mysterious death, the killing of Kansas City gangsters “The Two Tony’s” by Jimmie “The Weasel” Fratiano. These cases and many more were captured in striking crime scene and forensic photographs by the Los Angeles Police Department. Recently discovered in a forgotten warehouse, the photos are now published for the first time, accompanied by captions from police logs and original newspaper accounts, which reveal the true stories behind these powerful images.

Revealing the underbelly of Los Angeles from the 1930s through the 1960s, these images are disquieting and brutal, with an atmospheric, eerie beauty that belies their documentary purpose. This is noir for art’s sake.

Scene of the Crime: Photographs from the LAPD Archive includes an introduction by best-selling author James Ellroy and a foreword by Police Chief William Bratton. It is published by Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (ISBN: 0-8109-5002-2; $35.00; 240 pages with 155 duotone illustrations).

This news advisory was prepared by the Los Angeles Police Department’s Media Relations Section, at 213-485-3586.