To live and die in L.A. - Jill Leovy writes the book on inner-city murder

Just learned that Jill Leovy, founder of the Homicide Report, the ground-breaking LAT blog that tries to chronicle every single murder in Los Angeles, is writing a book. No title yet.

Though inspired by the blog, Leovy's book won't be a recap. Instead, she'll  use the knowledge gleaned from her work to look at race and murder rates, and to formulate a theory of her own about of the causes of inner-city warfare. Our lit-blogger, Carolyn Kellogg, gets some details:

Jacket Copy: Does your book chronicle all 845 murders in Los Angeles last year?

Jill Leovy: No. The book is not related to the Homicide Report blog, nor to my efforts to cover all homicides in Los Angeles County last year. (In reality, there were more then 900.) The book will be about the syndrome of high homicide rates among blacks in America, their causes and consequences.

Jacket Copy: Will you focus on a specific area or region?

JL: The book will be mostly reported out of Los Angeles, but it seeks to explain a national phenomenon. High homicide rates among blacks are everywhere ...

The full Q&A, in Jacket Copy, is here. And check out the Homicide Report, now in the capable hands of  Ruben Vives.

-- Veronique de Turenne

Photo credit: Al Seib / Los Angeles Times