Images: James Ellroy’s inscribed copies of “Black Dahlia Avenger” are sold on EBay. Classy, no?

Several people have written to me about James Ellroy’s onetime support of Steve Hodel and the whole “Black Dahlia Avenger” nonsense. Here’s the story:

I am a former friend of James Ellroy, which is the only kind he has.

Anyone who penetrates his inner circle is eventually dumped (and I’m not even going to mention the otherwise smart women who get involved with him). The same thing happened with me that occurred with Bill Stoner (the retired detective – and a real gentleman —  who collaborated on “My Dark Places”), Vikram Jayanti, (the producer of “James Ellroy’s Feast of Death”) and most recently LAPD Detective Rick Jackson, who lasted the longest of just about anyone.

And so it is with Hodel.

I ran into James at a publicity event at the Biltmore for the release of Brian De Palma’s hideous “Black Dahlia”movie.  I was doing a segment for “America’s Most Wanted” and the producer wanted to get me and Ellroy on camera. The first words out of James’ mouth were: “Don’t anybody mention Steve Hodel.”

Case closed.

I don’t really have hard feelings toward James. He dumps everybody. One minute you’re friends and the next minute he’s gone. The initial thrill of being friends with a major American author wears off pretty quickly in James’ case. There are few topics of conversation, mostly involving him, his books, his mother — and the awesome size of his manhood, which he discusses almost constantly. The 1950s jive talk is not an act – he does it 24/7 and it wears thin very quickly.

And, as described in “My Dark Places,” James has a lot of personal issues – and they haven’t improved with age. It is sad to see someone who is basically not a bad person become a grating self-parody who produces books so mannered and eccentric that they are unreadable.