Red Sheet

A Novel

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On sale Jun 09, 2026 | 18 Hours and 0 Minutes | 9798217340217

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Turn to the first page and disavow what you think you know. This is 1960s Los Angeles like you’ve never seen it before, in a daring work of historical fiction from bestselling author of The Enchanters and Widespread Panic.

It’s late October 1962. The Cuban Missile Crisis has just concluded. The U.S. prevailed. Attorney General Robert Kennedy fears reprisals from domestic Communist Party members embedded in L.A. He orders a red probe and puts the LAPD on the job.

Freddy Otash is named lead investigator. He encounters commie malfeasance at every turn. He homes in on a red-front trade union. There’s a murder on Halloween night. It links to ex-VP and gubernatorial candidate Richard Nixon and possibly two homicides eight years back. Now Freddy is working double duty: he’s commanding the probe and is hired to keep Nixon out of trouble. Meanwhile, integrationist fever is sweeping L.A. and the police department comes under its fire. Ex-cop/lawyer Tom Bradley is running for city council and pushing the Rumford Fair Housing Act. Playboy kingpin Hugh Hefner is along for the ride. And the long-forgotten but still-stunning folk singer Judy Henske is on a collision course with the love of her life, the freewheeling Freddy O.

The stage is set for chaos and Freddy thrives on chaos. Red Sheet is a work of subversive art. It embodies “indigenous American beserk” with a uniquely crazed and brilliant passion.
© Marion Ettlinger
JAMES ELLROY was born in Los Angeles. He is the author of the Underworld U.S.A. Trilogy: American TabloidThe Cold Six Thousand, and Blood's a Rover, and the L.A. Quartet novels: The Black DahliaThe Big NowhereL.A. Confidential, and White Jazz. He lives in Colorado. View titles by James Ellroy

About

Turn to the first page and disavow what you think you know. This is 1960s Los Angeles like you’ve never seen it before, in a daring work of historical fiction from bestselling author of The Enchanters and Widespread Panic.

It’s late October 1962. The Cuban Missile Crisis has just concluded. The U.S. prevailed. Attorney General Robert Kennedy fears reprisals from domestic Communist Party members embedded in L.A. He orders a red probe and puts the LAPD on the job.

Freddy Otash is named lead investigator. He encounters commie malfeasance at every turn. He homes in on a red-front trade union. There’s a murder on Halloween night. It links to ex-VP and gubernatorial candidate Richard Nixon and possibly two homicides eight years back. Now Freddy is working double duty: he’s commanding the probe and is hired to keep Nixon out of trouble. Meanwhile, integrationist fever is sweeping L.A. and the police department comes under its fire. Ex-cop/lawyer Tom Bradley is running for city council and pushing the Rumford Fair Housing Act. Playboy kingpin Hugh Hefner is along for the ride. And the long-forgotten but still-stunning folk singer Judy Henske is on a collision course with the love of her life, the freewheeling Freddy O.

The stage is set for chaos and Freddy thrives on chaos. Red Sheet is a work of subversive art. It embodies “indigenous American beserk” with a uniquely crazed and brilliant passion.

Author

© Marion Ettlinger
JAMES ELLROY was born in Los Angeles. He is the author of the Underworld U.S.A. Trilogy: American TabloidThe Cold Six Thousand, and Blood's a Rover, and the L.A. Quartet novels: The Black DahliaThe Big NowhereL.A. Confidential, and White Jazz. He lives in Colorado. View titles by James Ellroy

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