Suicide Hill (1986) Signed First Edition Reference

Suicide Hill is the concluding volume of the Lloyd Hopkins trilogy, published by Mysterious Press in 1986. The novel follows Hopkins as he investigates a series of bank robberies that lead him into the intersection of organized crime and law enforcement corruption — territory that Ellroy would mine more deeply in the L.A. Quartet. The book marks the end of Hopkins’s arc and the end of Ellroy’s apprentice phase.

The Book

Suicide Hill is the most accomplished of the three Hopkins novels, reflecting Ellroy’s growing mastery of complex, multi-threaded plotting. The bank robbery investigation intersects with Hopkins’s deteriorating personal life to create a novel that is simultaneously a procedural thriller and a study of masculine self-destruction. The book’s ambition and scope point directly toward The Black Dahlia, which Ellroy would publish the following year.

First Edition Identification

Publisher: Mysterious Press, New York Publication date: 1986 Format: Hardcover in dust jacket

Signed Copy Market Values

• Signed first edition, fine/fine: $150–$400
• Inscribed copies: $200–$600
• Unsigned first edition: $25–$75

Completing the Hopkins trilogy in signed first editions is a manageable but rewarding collecting project. The three books together represent Ellroy’s development from talented genre writer to the novelist who would produce The Black Dahlia.