You asked about Hot Springs . I'm about 2/3's through the book, with a couple other Hunter books ready to be read.

It's a highly-fictionalized account of the '46 Veterans' Revolt in Hot Springs, AR. The vets are a psuedo-vigilante group intent on running the Mob out of town by any means necessary. They are led by a retired FBI angent, D.A. Parker, and a Marine Medal of Honor recipient, Earl Swagger.

The book reads like a cross of Hammett & Chandler. Heroes with dark pasts. Bloody battles, clipped dialog, unexpected bouts of conscience.

This is the fourth book in the Swagger series, but the first I've read, so I can't say how the other books compare.

Actually I have Hot Springs in paperback. I know my local Borders has a few of his novels in paperback.

That was the second time I had read it, so, yes, it is good.

Ellroy? Have to check him out.