Nothing confidential about Ellroy’s feelings toward Vegas

There's only loathing -- no fear or anything else -- when James Ellroy discusses Las Vegas. The Los Angeles-based novelist, best known for dissecting the underbelly of his iconic hometown in 1990's "L.A. Confidential" and 1987's "The Black Dahlia," says he hates Las Vegas and everything it stands for.

During a phone call from his apartment in Los Angeles' mid-Wilshire district, the best-selling author ticked off a laundry list of reasons: "It's a testimonial to skeeviness, to gambling, to get-rich-quick, to cheap entertainment, to 'What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas,' to bachelor parties, to sunstroke, to malignant melanomas, to losing your money."

Ellroy, 61, is scheduled to read from his latest political noir, "Blood's A Rover," at the Clark County Library at 2 p.m. on Sunday. He says he has visited Las Vegas three times before: in 1970, in 2000 (for the first Marco Barrera vs. Erik Morales boxing match) and sometime in between that he can't recall (for a book tour).

"I don't like the place," he said. "It's not for me."

"Blood's A Rover" is the final installment in Ellroy's Underworld USA trilogy, which began with 1995's "American Tabloid" and included 2001's "The Cold Six Thousand." It features the Las Vegas Valley more prominently than any previous Ellroy tome because it follows Howard Hughes from 1968 to 1972. (The eccentric billionaire resided atop the Desert Inn from 1966 to 1970.) One of the book's main characters, Wayne Tedrow Jr., is a Las Vegas cop turned mafia hitman who works for Hughes.

Ellroy described Hughes as "a bisexual, germaphobic, racist, xenophobic, dope fiend addicted to blood transfusions," questioning his legacy as the proverbial sheriff who ran the mafia out of town.

"Was he anti-mob?" Ellroy asked. "The mob sold him those hotels -- at prices that skimmed the (expletive) out of him."

Ellroy admitted he "didn't do any" research into Hughes' life.

"I had basic research briefs and used them," he said. "I knew where he was at given times, I knew what he was doing in Las Vegas, and I let my imagination go wild.

"People don't want to hear, 'I lie in the dark and think and make this (expletive) up' -- even though it's true."

Some artists love places they hate, because of the creative inspiration they impart.

"It's not even hate in a good way," Ellroy said of Las Vegas. "It's not a place I approve of. I don't want to go back. They told me to go there and sell books, I'll go there and sell books."

Contact reporter Corey Levitan at clevitan@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0456.