''True Confessions'' is a noir novel by

John Gregory Dunne John Gregory Dunne (May 25, 1932 – December 30, 2003) was an American writer. He began his career as a journalist for ''Time'' magazine before expanding into writing criticism, essays, novels, and screenplays. He often collaborated with his wif ...

and published in 1977. The novel was inspired by an actual event, the 1947

Black Dahlia Elizabeth Short (July 29, 1924 – January 14–15, 1947), known posthumously as the Black Dahlia, was an American woman found murdered in the Leimert Park neighborhood of Los Angeles on January 15, 1947. Her case became highly publicized ow ...

murder.

Plot

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 ...

, 1946: Lois Fazenda is found cut in two pieces in a vacant lot after the murderer has taunted on the corpse. Due to the nickname "The Virgin Tramp", given to her just to please a journalist, a "nice quiet little homicide that would have drifted off the front pages in a couple of days" becomes the center of a storm. Two brothers, Tom and Desmond Spellacy, are the protagonists of this corrosive romance of Irish-Catholic life in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

shortly after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. Tom is a lieutenant of the Homicide Division in charge of the case, not very honest but good in his job, and Desmond is a skillful and quickly ascending

monsignor Monsignor (; it, monsignore ) is an honorific form of address or title for certain male clergy members, usually members of the Roman Catholic Church. Monsignor is the apocopic form of the Italian ''monsignore'', meaning "my lord". "Monsignor" ...

who has already been chosen to become the next

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ...

. The investigation offers the background to narrate with ironic and vulgar language, full of racist and homophobic terms, the miseries and the hypocrisy of society. The world of the Spellacy brothers is made of gangsters and bigoted, perverts and unlucky people, golfers and prostitutes, priests with a questionable morality and businessmen with no morality at all, whose stories are united together in a plot of corruption and despair in which very few of them will have something to earn: the murder of the "Virgin Tramp" is a crime that has no solutions, only victims.

Main characters

*Lieutenant Tom Spellacy * Monsignor Desmond Spellacy * Lois Fazenda, prostitute and victim of the crime * Jack Amsterdam, a gangster in business with the

Los Angeles Archdiocese The Archdiocese of Los Angeles ( la, Archidiœcesis Angelorum in California, es, Arquidiócesis de Los Ángeles) is an ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church ( particularly the Roman Catholic or Latin Church) located in th ...

*Lieutenant Frank Crotty, colleague and friend of Tom Spellacy * Cardinal Hugh Danaher, head of the Archdiocese, of whom Des Spellacy is the secretary and designated successor * Mary Margaret Maher Spellacy, wife of Tom Spellacy * Corinne Morris, lover of Tom Spellacy * Monsignor Seamus Fargo, honest and uncompromising priest, and for this reason hated by his superiors * Dan T. Campion, lawyer of the Archdiocese * Sonny McDonough, Los Angeles Construction Councilor and mortician in business with the Archdiocese * Brenda Samuels, a brothel-keeper, friend of Tom Spellacy * Captain Fred Fuqua, chief of the Homicide Division, superior of Tom Spellacy and aspiring chief of the

LAPD 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 ...

* Howard Terkel, a journalist

Reception

''True Confessions'' was a ''New York Times'' Best Seller. Novelist

Thomas H. Cook Thomas H. Cook (born September 19, 1947) is an American author, whose 1996 novel '' The Chatham School Affair'' received an Edgar award from the Mystery Writers of America. Biography Thomas H. Cook was born in Fort Payne, Alabama, and holds a ba ...

included ''True Confessions'' among his list of 10 best mystery books, calling it "one of the most movingly redemptive novels I have ever read."

Adaptation

The novel was adapted into the 1981 film '' True Confessions'', directed by

Ulu Grosbard Israel "Ulu" Grosbard (9 January 1929 – 19 March 2012) was a Belgian-born, naturalized American theatre and film director and film producer. Life and career Born in Antwerp, Grosbard was the son of Rose (Tenenbaum) and Morris Grosbard, who wo ...

and starring

Robert De Niro Robert Anthony De Niro Jr. ( , ; born August 17, 1943) is an American actor. Known for his collaborations with Martin Scorsese, he is considered to be one of the best actors of his generation. De Niro is the recipient of various accolades ...

and

Robert Duvall Robert Selden Duvall (; born January 5, 1931) is an American actor and filmmaker. His career spans more than seven decades and he is considered one of the greatest American actors of all time. He is the recipient of an Academy Award, four Gold ...

. Dunne co-wrote the screenplay with his wife

Joan Didion Joan Didion (; December 5, 1934 – December 23, 2021) was an American writer. Along with Tom Wolfe, Hunter S. Thompson and Gay Talese, she is considered one of the pioneers of New Journalism. Didion's career began in the 1950s after she won ...

References

{{reflist 1977 American novels Novels set in the 1940s Novels set in Los Angeles American novels adapted into films American crime novels E. P. Dutton books Novels based on actual events