Dietrich Kalteis

A Novel

Under an Outlaw Moon

When long retired cop, Fitch Henry Haut, sees two men forcing a runaway girl into their vehicle, he steps in and gets the upper hand. He and the girl escape in his broken-down Winnebago, and as Fitch listens to her story, he realizes the men will come after them. A bond forms as he and the girl struggle to escape out of town.

A Crime Novel

Nobody from Somewhere

A robbery, a car theft, a kidnapping -- all lead to a temporary hideout in small-town British Columbia. The money, underwater in the trunk of a car, becomes the desired objective for some unexpected crooks.

Cradle of the Deep

Rennie Beckman is a dishonored ex-cop with only two things on his mind: his new boat, the Triggerfish, and his hot date, an environmentalist named Vicki. After the two unknowingly dock the boat in the same secluded cove as a Mexican cartel's drug submarine, the date ends with a bang. With the cartel's coke-for-guns deal with local bikers torched by Beckman, he's forced to go on the run with half the underworld chasing him through the streets of Vancouver and the waters surrounding it. While he tries to stay alive, a woman from Beckman's past — currently on the run from CSIS and the anti-terror squad — comes back to settle an old score. When the gangs start to go after his friends, the ex-cop stops running and turns the tables. With a ragtag crew of his own, Beckman fights the cartel and bikers, head on. Fast, vicious, and thrilling, Triggerfish delivers a story where all the criminals are in conflict and no one is certain who will come out on top.

Triggerfish

Meet Depression-era newlyweds Bennie and Stella. He’s reckless, she’s naive. Longing for freedom from tough times, they rob a bank, setting off a series of events that quickly spin out of their control Under an Outlaw Moon is based on the true story of Depression-era bank robbers Bennie and Stella Mae Dickson. She’s a teenage outsider longing to fit in. He’s a few years older and he’s trouble. They meet at a local skating rink and the sparks fly. They marry and Stella dreams of a nice house with a swing out back, while Bennie figures out how to get enough money to make it happen. Setting his sights on the good life, he decides to rob a bank. Talking Stella into it, he lays out his plan and teaches her to shoot. The newlyweds celebrate her 16th birthday by robbing a local bank. They pull it off, but the score is small, and Bennie realizes the money won’t last long, so he plans a bigger robbery. What lays ahead is more than either of them bargained for. After J. Edgar Hoover finds out they crossed state lines, he declares them public enemies number one and two — wanted dead or alive. So much for the good life. The manhunt is on, and there’s little room for them to run.

This darkly humorous crime novel set in a Canadian ski town is a “fast-paced thrill ride” (Publishers Weekly). Grey Stevens took over the family business after his uncle passed away, and now grows the best pot in Whistler, British Columbia. It’s called Eight Miles High and the word on the street is it rivals anything on the planet. Happy to fly under the radar in this mountain playground, Grey just wants to take life easy, snowboarding in the cold months and biking in the hot ones. But demand for his pot among the locals and tourists keeps growing. Everybody wants to get their hands on it—including the two rival gangs who come to town to take over the dope trade. When Grey steps in and rescues a girl from a beating at the hands of one of the gang members, he finds himself in the middle of a turf war and a new relationship at the same time. After one of his roommates gets attacked and another goes missing, Grey has to decide whether he’s going to take off with the girl and start over someplace new—or stay and fight for what’s his . . . “The dialogue is some of the sharpest and funniest I’ve seen in any book this year.” —National Post “Kalteis will be deservedly compared to Elmore Leonard, but he is an original voice.” —John McFetridge, author of the Toronto Series “A rollicking tour through Whistler after dark, populated by ski bums and scallywags, gang-bangers and lovable losers on both sides of the law, and written with a staccato, snare-drum energy that keeps the pages turning . . . Breaking Bad for the ganja set.” —Owen Laukkanen, author of the Stevens and Windermere series

The Deadbeat Club

In one volume, three edgy novels set in Vancouver: “If you like your crime hard and fast, Kalteis is for you.” (The Globe and Mail, Toronto). This collection features three of Dietrich Kalteis’s action-packed and darkly humorous crime novels, all set in the Canadian city of Vancouver: Ride the Lightning, Triggerfish, and The Deadbeat Club. Ride the Lightning: Dope dealer Miro seizes an opportunity to settle a score with a bounty hunter while working a major drug deal. What follows is a ride through Vancouver’s underbelly with a cast of characters whose ambition exceeds their criminal acumen. Triggerfish: In this “high-octane tale [that] will suit hardcore crime fans,” Rene Beckman, a dishonored ex-cop, has only two things on his mind: his new boat, the Triggerfish, and his hot date, an environmentalist named Vicki (Publishers Weekly). When the two unknowingly dock the boat in the same secluded cove as a Mexican cartel’s submarine, the date ends with a bang. The Deadbeat Club: In this “fast-paced thrill ride,” Grey Stevens has taken over the family business from his late uncle, and now he grows the best pot in Whistler (Publishers Weekly). Everybody wants to get their hands on it, including the two rival gangs coming to town. When Grey rescues a girl from a beating at the hands of one of the gang members, he finds himself in the middle of a turf war and a new relationship at the same time. “Kalteis will be deservedly compared to Elmore Leonard, but he is an original voice.” —John McFetridge, author of the Toronto Series

Ride the Lightning, Triggerfish, and The Deadbeat Club

The Gritty Gastown Collection

Desperate times call for desperate measures in Kalteis’s lightning-fast crime caper story Sonny and Clara Myers struggle on their Kansas farm in the late 1930s, a time the Lord gave up on: their land’s gone dry, barren, and worthless; the bankers are greedy and hungry, trying to squeeze them and other farmers out of their homes; and, on top of that, their marriage is in trouble. The couple can struggle and wither along with the land or surrender to the bankers and hightail it to California like most of the others. Clara is all for leaving, but Sonny refuses to abandon the family farm. In a fit of temper, she takes off westward in their old battered truck. Alone on the farm and determined to get back Clara and the good old days, Sonny comes up with an idea, a way to keep his land and even prosper while giving the banks a taste of their own misery. He sets the scheme in motion under the cover of the commotion being caused by a rainmaker hired by the mayor to call down the thunder and wash away everyone’s troubles.

Dietrich Kalteis

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