[photo credit; Eventbrite]
The ticketed Vroman’s appearance falls one day after the novel’s national release by Alfred A. Knopf and lands on the third stop of Ellroy’s 10-date U.S. tour, according to the schedule posted on his official website. It is his only Pasadena date on the current swing.
Red Sheet runs 544 pages, lists at $35 in hardcover and was published Tuesday, according to Penguin Random House. The publisher describes it as a “gritty, fast-paced historical crime thriller set in 1962 Los Angeles during the aftermath of the Cuban Missile Crisis.” It is the third novel in Ellroy’s Freddy Otash series, following Widespread Panic and The Enchanters.
In its promotional synopsis, Knopf describes a plot that opens in late October 1962, in which Attorney General Robert Kennedy orders the Los Angeles Police Department to investigate a feared communist reprisal and assigns Otash, a former LAPD officer, as lead investigator. Real historical figures named in the synopsis include Richard Nixon, Bob Haldeman, John Ehrlichman, Tom Bradley and Hugh Hefner.
Ellroy, 78, was born in Los Angeles in 1948 and is the author of the L.A. Quartet — The Black Dahlia, The Big Nowhere, L.A. Confidential and White Jazz — and the Underworld U.S.A. Trilogy, according to his publisher. He received the Los Angeles Times Robert Kirsch Award for lifetime achievement in 2022 and lives in Colorado.
Vroman’s, founded in 1894 by Adam Clark Vroman, describes itself on its website as “Southern California’s Largest & Oldest Independent Bookstore.” Pasadena Now reported in November 2024 that the store hosts more than 400 free community events a year at its Colorado Boulevard location, where it has operated since 1954.
“Our longevity is because of the people,” Julia Cowlishaw, Vroman’s chief executive, said in November 2024 as the store marked its 130th anniversary, according to Pasadena Now. “Our dedicated customers and our dedicated team of employees are the reason we are still here.”
The bookstore’s promotion of the event uses the publisher’s own language, urging readers to “disavow what you think you know about the so-called Red Scare.” Pre-publication reviews cited by Penguin Random House describe the book in similarly heightened terms. Publishers Weekly, in a copy posted to the publisher’s site, called it “a rewarding ride for noir fans.” Kirkus Reviews, also cited by the publisher, called it “a head-spinning carom of a book.”
The event is ticketed through Eventbrite, and the ticket includes one entry and one copy of Red Sheet to be handed out at check-in. A signing follows the discussion. Vroman’s is tagging the appearance as an adult event. Ticket pricing is listed on the Eventbrite sales page linked from Vroman’s event listing.
Vroman’s Bookstore is at 695 E. Colorado Blvd. The bookstore can be reached at (626) 449-5320 or promo@vromansbookstore.com.
After Wednesday’s Pasadena stop, Ellroy’s tour continues Thursday at Book Passage in Corte Madera and concludes June 24 in Andover, Mass., according to his website.
