A staunch James Ellroy fan once told me that he loved the author's style. The sentences are short, snappy, confusing, thrilling and always - this is the key - happening.

"The Black Dahlia", however, isn't a formulaic thriller by my definition. It's a disquieting rumination - a deep journey into an uncomfortable mind. The narrator's thoughts slowly draw you into his unwelcome awareness. The uneasy love, his lust for a dead woman he never even met ruins, at times nearly kills his relationships with living people.

This is a story about two cops, Bucky Bleichert and Lee Blanchard. Right after becoming detectives, they're asked to solve the gruesome murder of a beautiful young woman nicknamed the Black Dahlia because of her penchant for black dresses, her Hollywood dreams and her desperate need for men.

Bleichert's life is taken over by this mysterious Dahlia. Other women in his life become - or want to become - the dead woman and, in real life, he struggles with these strange, imaginative transformations.

This is a challenging story; its simplicity is deceptive.

Ellroy explains in the afterword the personal mystery that inspired this book - his mother's murder in 1958, which is still unsolved.

Ellroy also endorses the latest "Black Dahlia" film and thanks the actors, especially Josh Hartnett, and director Brian DePalma for doing justice to his story.

I haven't seen the movie. I'm still trying to solve the mystery of my interest in this book. It engrossed me at times, and at times it left me wanting more - and it still has me wondering how far Bleichert would go to ruin his life.

Yoga for a Healthy Body

By Imelda Maguire

Published by Greenwich Editions

Available at B2S, Bt695

We've heard it all before: The world's longest-lasting exercise fad is good for the mind and body; it pulls you together, stops you from having temper tantrums, and can supposedly heal this world and the next.

I selected this book because of the happy pictures, though. I'm a sucker for smiles and guys in red tank-tops and tight shorts.

Why do people who practise yoga look so neat, anaesthetised and on the verge of ecstasy? Why do they do all their posturing in front of waterfalls or with a sunset in the background?

Why do they look so fluid, while I always end up complaining about tight muscles and pain?

Anyway, I thought I'd give it another go, and bought this breezy manual because it made all those stretches look so easy. It has everything, from the Cat Pose to the Sun Salutation, from the Warrior to the Downward Dog, and it has sequences combining the right exercises. It even tells you all about the different brands of the ancient stretch and how it's evolved into yoga for the 21st century.

Besides, it does promise you inner fulfilment, a tight belly, toned arms and a happy countenance - all for a few hundred baht.

However, I discovered it wasn't as easy as it promised. For starters, anybody wanting a piece of the promised "nirvana" would either have to have a photographic memory or someone else, preferably a close friend who doesn't mind seeing you in compromising positions, read out the instructions while you hear your joints crack.

Your friend could chastise you with the mantra, "Why do you keep buying yoga books?"

by ramona varma