Southland Noir takes the reader back to the Jazz Age. No place is more evocative of the period than Los Angeles and Hollywood in 1926. Egan Walsh is an IRA veteran of the Irish War of Independence fought against centuries of British rule. Hostilities end by an unsatisfactory treaty threatening civil war. Walsh refuses to take up arms against former IRA comrades and leaves Ireland for Boston.

As a former Irish newspaper journalist, he finds work at the Boston Globe. Writing a successful novel based on his wartime experiences, Walsh comes to Hollywood to adapt his novel Price of Freedom to the movie screen. A welcoming challenge for getting on with his life in a new environment. However, circumstances beyond his control entangle him in events that turn violent. Los Angeles is no city of angels.