Catalina Eddy: A Novel in Three Decades

Daniel Pyne flips all the standards upside-down with Catalina Eddy and in the process delivers a classic California noir - times three. This is Pyne's masterpiece. I guarantee no reader will go wanting.

-Michael Connelly



Times may change, but crimes never do, and neither do the people who investigate them. A collection of three loosely connected crime novellas, each set in a distinct era, Catalina Eddy is a gritty, hard-boiled exploration into the immutable police underworld of Southern California. In The Big Empty, an obstinate Los Angeles detective investigates the murder of his estranged wife while fears of nuclear war and Communism grip the nation; in Losertown, a mid-career attorney in San Diego chases down a legendary drug kingpin but chafes against the Reagan Revolution policies of his new boss; and in Portuguese Bend, set in the present day, an undercover cop is paralyzed in a gunfight but determined to solve what may be her last case as a police officer in Long Beach. They are all, in one way or another, stuck in dreary endless loops of love, murder, and the quest for clarity, release, and redemption.



Reminiscent of James Ellroy's grittiness and Raymond Chandler's dark wit, Catalina Eddy is Daniel Pyne's clever homage to-and skillful deconstruction of-traditional noir storytelling. Moody, enthralling, and keenly imagined, Catalina Eddy evokes the characters and ambiance of a singular, peculiar landscape with cinematic flair.

Daniel Pyne's screenwriting credits include the remake of The Manchurian Candidate, Pacific Heights, and Fracture. He made his directorial debut with the indie cult film Where's Marlowe? Pyne's list of television credits (writing and showrunning) is vast, and includes J. J. Abrams's Alcatraz and Miami Vice. His last novel, Fifty Mice, was published by Blue Rider Press in 2014; his previous novels Twentynine Palms and A Hole in the Ground Owned by a Liar were published by Counterpoint Press. He lives in Southern California.

About Daniel Pyne