Celine

A novel

By: Peter Heller

Narrated by: Kimberly Farr

From the best-selling author of The Dog Stars and The Painter, a luminous, masterful novel of suspense--the story of Celine, an elegant, aristocratic private eye who specializes in reuniting families, trying to make amends for a loss in her own past.

Working out of her jewel box of an apartment at the base of the Brooklyn Bridge, Celine has made a career of tracking down missing persons, and she has a better record at it than the FBI. But when a young woman, Gabriela, asks for her help, a world of mystery and sorrow opens up. Gabriela's father was a photographer who went missing on the border of Montana and Wyoming. He was assumed to have died from a grizzly mauling, but his body was never found. Now, as Celine and her partner head to Yellowstone National Park, investigating a trail gone cold, it becomes clear that they are being followed--that this is a case someone desperately wants to keep closed. Inspired by the life of Heller’s own remarkable mother, a chic and iconoclastic private eye, Celine is a deeply personal novel, a wildly engrossing story of family, privilege, and childhood loss. Combining the exquisite plotting and gorgeous evocation of nature that have become his hallmarks, Peter Heller gives us his finest work to date.

Critic reviews

"Heller impresses in this fine novel about parents and children and the secrets we try to keep from one another… The novel glows." —Marc Bojanowski, The New York Times Book Review

"In this gorgeously wrought story—equal parts character study and mystery—a young woman asks Celine, a badass Brooklyn private eye, to investigate the death of her father, a nature photographer who may or may not have been mauled and eaten by bears in Yellowstone… Captivating." —Entertainment Weekly’s "The Must List: Top 10 Things We Love This Week" Grade: A-

"Terrific... Celine is tough, tired, and very funny—exactly the sort of person you want to spend 300 pages with... It’s a pulpy, twisty plot... Heller stuffs it with tingling mysteries and thrilling solutions. He keeps everything moving thanks to an increasingly tense plot... Still, the best thing about Celine is that it’s a terrific piece of fiction." —Craig Fehrman, Outside Magazine

"Ingenious... Like Mark Twain and Toni Morrison, Heller is a rare talent... Irresistible suspense... Masterful, emotional and action-packed... One of this year's most unforgettable characters. It's as if Heller took the tender yet tough-as-nails personality of writer Annie Proulx and cast her on the page, in all her plainspoken, intellectually impeccable, deeply wise—and wise-ass—glory." —Lisa Shea, Elle

"Celine and Pete... launch a deceptively leisurely investigation showcasing Celine’s appreciation for public libraries and passion for firearms, venturing into international cover-ups, and culminating in hilarious showdowns in which wit is the mightiest weapon... This captivating, tender, brainy, and funny tale of the mysterious powers of beauty and grief, nature and family will leave readers hoping that Heller is planning a National Park series featuring this stealthy, irrepressible duo." —Donna Seaman, Booklist (Starred Review)

"Celine is a paradox, a Sarah Lawrence blue blood who is also a licensed PI, living near the Brooklyn Bridge... Heller blends suspense with beautiful descriptive writing of both nature and civilization to create a winner." —Robert E. Brown, Library Journal (Starred Review)

lots of character development for not much story.

this book was ok, I didn't hate it. but there was so much character development for nothing. still unable to connect and no resolve to their story. i also lived in and near ynp for many years and had difficulty getting past discrepancies of park behavior that the PI hung her case on. it made me wonder if anyone with intimate relationship to the park even read for edit.

Just buy it. Private eye. Yellowstone what else could you want?

If you like Box, Atkins, Cameron but want something a bit more sophisticated like Mcguane, or Olmsted you’ll love Heller. The narrator was a bit gushy at the first yet calmed as the story developed. Def prefer Hellers other narrators.

Nice story, not Dog Stars, though.

Peter Heller can write like Steinbeck and Hemingway but this story lacked the depth and warmth I've loved in his other stories. Dog Stars to me was epic, was stunning. The Painter was dark, descriptive, sinister. Celine was lovely, predictable, too short, thin at times, albeit still entertaining. I will continue to look forward to Peter's future endeavors with excitement.

Good book. Disappointing to listen to

A good detective story that was filled with lovely word images of northern Wyoming. My biggest disappointment was the reader’s male voice for Pete. It felt very exaggerated and incongruous with my image of him.

Not much to the story line

The main character, Celine, was interesting but there wasn't much to the story. The ending was very implausible and not well developed.