Our top six books this week: inside the gritty underworld of 1950s LA with James Ellroy and much more

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LAPD ‘53

James Ellroy and the Los Angeles Police Museum

Abrams, May 19

Enter the gritty underworld of Los Angeles in 1953. Striking crime scene photographs from the time are paired with text from the crime fiction master. Ellroy provides explainers, commentary and context in a dark time for the City of Angels.

Napoleon: On War

Bruno Colson (ed),

OUP, May 7

Napoleon considered a treatise on war while exiled on St Helena but is said to have destroyed his manuscripts. This is said to be the first authoritive collection of the French general’s thinking on war and strategy, in the manner of Carl von Clausewitz’s classic On War.

The Art of Flying

Antonio Altaribba and illustrated by Kim

Cape, May 7

Moving story of Altaribba’s father. It traces his life through service with Franco in the Spanish Civil War, his escape to join the anarchists and his tragic death at the age of 90. This is the first English publication of the celebrated graphic novel.

This House Is Not for Sale

E C Osondu

Granta Books, May 7

Framed around the history of a house in Lagos and the people who lived there, this is the story of one African community. The novel is loosely based on the author’s grandfather’s house and draws on the rich oral traditions of Nigeria.

When the Doves Disappeared

Sofi Oksanen, Atlantic Books May 7

Two Red Army soldiers desert their post in 1941 Estonia as the Germans approach. What happens during the war will cast a shadow over their lives for the next 20 years. A tale of occupation, collaboration contested loyalties and the long shadow of tyranny.

Boo

Neil Smith William Heinemann

May 21

Oliver “Boo” Dalrymple is one moment at school and the next, suddenly and inexplicably, in a strange bed in a strange land. But, in fact, he has actually died. Initially Boo thought it was from a heart defect but he has been murdered. This is written as a letter to his parents and evokes works such as The Lovely Bones.