Narrator is a cop, he does a good job vaguely describing how LA was kinda shitty in 1943 because it was naturally becoming the kind of melting pot the American dream describes and the establishment does everything it can to keep the minorities oppressed as best they can.
Ch 1 pg 11
Narrator is looking to get promoted to warrants. Its just this side of being a detective I gather. Word is, the guy in charge of the decision is fond of boxers. Narrator used to be a boxer. So he gets back into fighting shape to garner favor.
Ch 2 pg 17
Bucky is our narrator's name. We already know he ends up partnered with this other guy that used to box as well, Lee. So this chapter and probably the next will be anticlimactic. As a PR stunt, the LA police are doing cop fights. The first one will be Bucky and Lee. If Bucky wins, he gets the promotion to warrants and becomes Lee's partner.
Ch 3 pg 23
We know Bucky wins the fight.
What this chapter presupposes is that hes gonna throw the fight to get money so he can put his father In an old folks home.
Also, hes getting a little but obsessed with Lee and his girlfriend Kay. He asks Kay why they dont get married. She says her and Lee don't sleep together.
Ch 4 pg 34
The fight is real fighty, Lee wins in the 8th round. Boxing in book form is kinda neat. I dont wanna see it, but having it described is fun to me. I guess we'll see how bucky ends up partners with Lee even though he lost the fight.
Bucky takes his winnings and puts his dad in a home. His dad is a nazi and bucky finds it amusing that most of the other old folks residence are Jewish.
Bucky gets 10 days off to heal from the fight. Lee comes over to tell him hes got the job in warrants if he wants it. The PR stunt worked and the bond measure passed so that other guy can fuck off.
Ch 5 pg 41
Bucky and Lee become fast friends.
Bucky develops a bit of a relationship with Kay. On new years eve she tells him she loves him.
Ch 6 pg 58
They're out looking for a guy and in looking for information they stumble across a group of four guys with Marijuana and knives and guns. The four guys end up dead. Lee is real shook up about it. Also, Kay's former pimp gets out of jail next week and hes sworn vengence.
Bucky gets to see Kay's naked body while she showers.
Ch 7 pg 67
We've finally made it to our titular murder victim. Lee is 💯 on catching the guy that did it cause it reminds him so much of his sister's murder. Bucky kinda feels like its not their job and they should do their job while the detective's work this case. Also, maybe Lee is ignoring kay"s pimps imminent release with this case as a convenient distraction.
Ch 8 pg 75
Bucky wants off the Black Dalia case. His boss tells him to shut his stupid mouth and do his job.
Ch 9 pg 90
Bucky goes around shaking any tree he can to find out more about the vic. She was a liar that went from boarding house to boarding house and never made any friends or stuck around long enough for anyone to get.to know her. The only mildly interesting thing he finds out is that she would go to the female guy bar. We expect scamming for drinks. Also, she might be 15? Or maybe that was a girl she went to the gay bar with.
Ch 10 pg 111
The cops nab a guy that gave the vic a ride from San Diego to LA. The cops are leaning pretty hard on him. Lee and Bucky don't think hes the guy.
Bucky questions one of the ladies that was seen at the gay bar with the vic. He's gonna take.her on a "date" tomorrow im exchange for keeping her out.pf his report.
Ch 11 pg 124
Only another 108 to go.
Bucky goes to Madeleine's house. She made the mistake of telling her dad about the date and now he has to stay for dinner cause her dad is a fan.
Dinner is a disaster.
Bucky and Madeleine go to a shitty hotel for her to hold up her end of the "date" in exchange for his covering up her part. He catches feelings when he sees her naked. Theyre gonna try to really have a relationship. But she's gotta tell him a secret. She was more.involved with the vic than she let on. They look alike and Madeleine heard about.this girl that looked.like her and partied even harder even though Madeleine was the hardest partier she knew.
.
Ch 12 pg 137
They find the 15 year old that was running mates with the vic, who's name is Elizabeth but was always going by a different nickname, Betty, Beth, etc. Probably changed with every new boarding house. Im gonna call her Betty from here on out.
Lorna is the girl's name. Shes got a porno movie. Its a lesbian porn with her and Betty. Her thought is maybe now that Betty is famous she can sell it to make a bunch of money and hire a lawyer to get emancipated so she doesnt have to go back to her dad in Iowa that beats her.
All this time Bucky is just hoping his girlfriend doesnt get named in any of this Lesbian business.
The brass watch the movie and talk about different prosecution ideas. Lee can't take it. This is child pornogrophy and he won't stand for it. He geabs the movie and jumps into his car and drives down to the lesbian bar area and starts yelling at them to tell him where they buy their porn.
Bucky puts him in a full Nelson and eventually Lee stops fighting back. The DA arrives on the scene and tells Lee that hes off the case. He's gonna try to put in a good word with the chef and the mayor, but there will be a meeting and Lee better beg if he doesnt wanna lose his pension.
Ch 13 pg 149
83 to go. That's only 40 a day, no problem.
Bucky shows up to work and the memo says meeting with the brass at 6 pm
Lee is nowhere to be found.
Bucky goes to shack up with Madeleine. She tells him she had sec with Betty just to see what it was like to be with someone that looked so much like her.
Bucky leaves in a huff, gets on the police radio. Finds out one of the warrants he wanted to stay on killed 2 people in an armed robery. 2 people dead because Bucky wasn't allowed to do his job because he was pulled into the 200 police circus that was Betty's investigation, which so for had not borne any fruit.
Bucky blames Lee. He finds him at the station and knocks him out.
Ch 14 pg 154
Bucky goes to the big meeting and Lee doesn't show. He tries his best to plead Lee's case.
Both Lee and Kay's pimp are headed to Tijuana.
Ch 15 pg 158
Bucky goes to Tijuana to find Lee. He doesn't. But he finds some LAPD down there looking into the pornogrophy side of Betty's case and one of them, Fritzie, says he'll try to help. Who they end up finding is Kay's pimp. They lose him and end up finding his dead body along with the dead body of a well known heroine dealer.
Ch 16 pg 164
Bucky goes to Kay looking for Lee. He ends up at a hotel that I think Lee was working out of. Real murder board for Betty. Lee is really deep into this. Cant pull himself out. Maybe Bucky can. He pays for the room for another couple weeks in case Lee comes back.
Ch 17 pg 166
A package claiming to be from the killer with Betty's possessions arrives. Everyone is all excited about it. But there's no clear next step sp Everyone is just arguing. Bucky once again requests to betalen off the betty case and is rejected.
Ch 18 pg 170
Fitzie is a great partner. Other people dont seem to think so, but from my perspective, he's cool.
Things get weird with Madeleine. Hes thinking of kay and Betty while hes rutting her and he feels weird about it. She catches on and it gets weirder, imho, cause she is ok with it.
Ch 19 pg 175
The killer sends his picture into the station. Everyone takes this as a sign that he's some sort of genius and they're never gonna solve the case. Bucky is gonna get to go back to warrants.
Ch 20 pg 177
Bucky isn't going back to warrants. Not all bad news, the reason is the captain thinks he might be a good replacement for a detective that's retir9ng in a few years.
There's an army guy out on the other side of the country claims he is the killer. He was in LA at the time so Bucky and a detective fly out to interview the guy. Its not the guy. Everything he knew was from the papers.
Ch 21 pg 187
The asistant da has a group of 4 suspects they want bucky and Fritzie to take em to a warehouse and figure out which one really did it.
This is where the other people that dont like Fritzie really have a strong case.
He's torturing this guy's to the point where Bucky cant take it anymore and he pulls an alarm and runs for it. Runs all the way to Kay.
Ch 22 pg 194
Life with Kay is good. He breaks up with Madeleine and she says he'll be back cause I look like her.
Bucky is busted down to a beat cop again.
He's on skid row and the job is to beat up homeless drunks. He doesnt so his performance reviews are very bad.
Even so, he checks in on the detective's working Betty's case every now and then. They recognize Bucky is one of the good ones. If he passes the seargant's exam and keeps working hard maybe theres a place for him in the detective beauro in a few years.
Thee department sends Kay a letter saying Lee has been officially kicked off the police force. She gets a check for 14.11 as that's how much money was in his city credit union account.
Ch 23 pg 198
Bucky has a sudden hunch that this is somehow Fritzie 's doing. Long story short, Fritzie kills himself and Bucky is gonna get an even shittier beat than the one he had before.
Ch 24 pg
214
Bucky has two weeks leave before he starts his new assignment. He decides he's going to go down to Mexico to find Lee. He finds out Lee killed Kay's pimp. Also, Lee is dead. He was throwing around soooo much money. Where'd he get that money?
Bucky goes back to Kay, tells her Lee is dead. She tells him Lee got the money robbing a bank and framed her pimp for it. Remember those four guys Lee and Bucky killed? One of them knew about the bank robbery and was trying to blackmail Lee. That's why Lee went looking for that trouble. Kay tells Bucky to forget all about it and move on with his life. Bucky says he will if she marries him. They get married at city hall and have a party in a vacant lot. He pulls his dad out of the old folks home to attend. Random people off the street join in and it turns into a hell of a party.
Arrol Flynn!!!!!!!
End of chapter 24 pg 232
