''Perfidia'' is a

historical romance Historical romance is a broad category of mass-market fiction focusing on romantic relationships in historical periods, which Walter Scott helped popularize in the early 19th century. Varieties Viking These books feature Vikings during the Da ...

and

crime fiction Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professional detective, of a crime, ...

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

by American author

James Ellroy Lee Earle "James" Ellroy (born March 4, 1948) is an American crime fiction writer and essayist. Ellroy has become known for a telegrammatic prose style in his most recent work, wherein he frequently omits connecting words and uses only short, sta ...

. Published in 2014, it is the first novel in the second L.A. Quartet, referring to his four prior novels from the first

L.A. Quartet The L.A. Quartet is a sequence of four crime fiction novels by James Ellroy set in the late 1940s through the late 1950s in Los Angeles. They are: * (1987) '' The Black Dahlia'' * (1988) ''The Big Nowhere'' * (1990) '' L.A. Confidential'' * (1992 ...

. ''Perfidia'' was released September 9, 2014. A

Waterstones Waterstones, formerly Waterstone's, is a British book retailer that operates 311 shops, mainly in the United Kingdom and also other nearby countries. As of February 2014, it employs around 3,500 staff in the UK and Europe. An average-sized Wa ...

exclusive limited edition of ''Perfidia'' was released September 11, 2014, and includes an essay by Ellroy himself titled "Ellroy's History – Then and Now." The title, ''Perfidia'', is

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

for the word

perfidy In the context of war, perfidy is a form of deception in which one side promises to act in good faith (such as by raising a flag of truce) with the intention of breaking that promise once the unsuspecting enemy is exposed (such as by coming out ...

, (see also

perfidia "Perfidia" (Spanish for " perfidy", meaning ''faithlessness'', ''treachery'' or ''betrayal'') is a 1939 Spanish-language song written by Mexican composer and arranger Alberto Domínguez (1906–1975). The song is sung from the perspectiv ...

) and is also the name of the big band song,

Perfidia "Perfidia" (Spanish for " perfidy", meaning ''faithlessness'', ''treachery'' or ''betrayal'') is a 1939 Spanish-language song written by Mexican composer and arranger Alberto Domínguez (1906–1975). The song is sung from the perspectiv ...

Plot

The main characters are Hideo Ashida, a Japanese

Los Angeles Police Department The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), officially known as the City of Los Angeles Police Department, is the municipal police department of Los Angeles, California. With 9,974 police officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the third-large ...

(LAPD) chemist, Kay Lake, a young woman looking for adventure, the real life William H. Parker, a gifted LAPD captain with a drinking problem, and Dudley Smith, an LAPD sergeant born in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, and raised in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. The novel is told in real time, covering 23 days with the dates and the time the chapters and events are occurring, as well as through Kay Lake's diary. An entry from Kay Lake's diary begins ''Perfidia'', followed by a bootleg transmitter radio broadcast on Friday, December 5, 1941, being broadcast by real-life

Gerald L. K. Smith Gerald Lyman Kenneth Smith (February 27, 1898 – April 15, 1976) was an American clergyman, politician and organizer known for his populist and far-right demagoguery. A leader of the populist Share Our Wealth movement during the Great Depressio ...

. The first chapter introduces the reader to Hideo Ashida, on Saturday, December 6, 1941, at 9:08 am. Since many fictional and real-life characters appear in ''Perfidia'', many from his prior novels, Ellroy added a ''

dramatis personæ Dramatis personae (Latin language, Latin: 'persons of the drama') are the main character (arts), characters in a dramatic work written in a list. Such lists are commonly employed in various forms of theatre, and also on screen. Typically, off-s ...

'', which notes the previous appearances of characters in ''Perfidia'', as well as short summaries for some of the characters.

Reviews and reception

''Perfidia'' was on ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

Best Sellers list A bestseller is a book or other media noted for its top selling status, with bestseller lists published by newspapers, magazines, and book store chains. Some lists are broken down into classifications and specialties (novel, nonfiction book, cookb ...

for hardcover fiction at number 16 on September 28, 2014. It also was an Editors' Choice at ''The New York Times'' on September 12, 2014.

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

added ''Perfidia'' as one of the best books of 2014 out of approximately 250 titles. ''Perfidia'' was also one of the eighty books nominated for the 2015

Folio Prize The Rathbones Folio Prize, previously known as the Folio Prize and The Literature Prize, is a literary award that was sponsored by the London-based publisher The Folio Society for its first two years, 2014–2015. Starting in 2017 the sponsor is ...

by the Folio Prize Academy.

References

External links

* https://www.jamesellroy.net/books/perfidia/ Retrieved 2017-06-10 * https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/07/books/review/james-ellroys-perfidia.html Retrieved 2015-06-27 * https://apps.npr.org/best-books-2014/#/book/perfidia-a-novel Retrieved 2017-06-10 * https://vimeo.com/107267635 Retrieved 2018-01-17 {{James Ellroy 2014 American novels Novels by James Ellroy Historical crime novels Books with cover art by Chip Kidd Fiction set in 1941 Alfred A. Knopf books Heinemann (publisher) books