Crime writing

Ellroy sets his novels in 1950's LA, where he grew up. His series of novels, "LA Quartet," was a bestseller. His latest novel is called "Hollywood Nocturnes." When Ellroy was ten, his mother was murdered near their LA home. He wrote an article about returning to LA to go through the police files on his mother for this month's issue of GQ, where he is a contributing editor. He'll talk today about how his mother's murder led to his crime writing.

Ann Rule is a former police officer who became a crime writer. Her new book, Small Sacrifices, documents the case of Diane Downs, who shot three of her children, killing one of them.