LA Observed

A Real LA Yarn

There must be something in the DNA of Los Angeles that nurtures intriguing mysteries. The noir stories of James M. Cain and James Ellroy make the point on the fiction side – Nick and Nora of “The Postman Always Rings Twice” were classic L.A. characters before the movie version relocated them. L.A. fiction has always been inspired by real-life crime tales taken out of the news. There’s no shortage of material. After the evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson vanished from the beach at Ocean Park, the mystery only became juicier when she stumbled out of the desert in Mexico and reported she had been kidnapped.