Bobbylaw

Of course Pizzolatto read Pizzolatto - he says exactly that in interviews and has stated that his writing was influential in the show. In fact, he's tells people in interviews to go read Ligotti's books.

Plagiarism is a fuzzy thing in literary works. It's not a simple as "oh, he used lines from such and such (which happens all the time in books and films). As far as I am aware, True Det. is not a plot lifted or characters taken directly from Pizzolatto's books - it's a character who quotes from books that influenced his philosophy on the way he sees the world (which is a very human thing to do).

If the character was only quoting Shakespeare and each time saying "and this, by the way, is a direct quote from a writer known as Shakespeare" no one would give a damn. But it would be pretty stupid.