Since I last posted, I've read James Ellroy's two most recent novels, This Storm (sequel to Perfidia) and Widespread Panic (a "from-beyond-the-grave autobiography" of famous L.A. private eye Fred Otash). Also hunted around and found a first-edition copy of Henry Gregor Felsen's Cup of Fury (the sequel to Street Rod); I'd heard its ending was changed when it was re-released under the better known title Rag Top. Sure enough, the ending was more bleak than the later version, which had a happier ending tacked on.