Matt Coyle grew up in La Jolla, California. As a child, he loved sports and reading. By the time he entered high school he had already decided he wanted to be a crime writer, having been inspired by Raymond Chandler's The Simple Art of Murder. He earned a bachelor's in English at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and has since worked selling golf clubs and sports collectibles, and managing restaurants.
In his spare time, Coyle writes novels. His first book, Yesterday's Echo, took 10 years to write, and when it was finally published it won the Anthony Award-Best First Novel, San Diego Book Award for Best Published Mystery, and the prestigious Benjamin Franklin Silver Award. Yesterday's Echo has now grown into a series, following private investigator Rick Cahill.