Books by Location

Authors, especially those writing a series featuring a continuing character, often feature a specific geographic location. Popular choices are Los Angeles, Seattle, New York, Boston, and other large and small cities across the country. Some feature international locations such as Great Britain and southeast Asia. When travel is available, many readers like to take along a book that takes place around their destination. Make a list, far off places await.

On the Bookshelf – Recent Reads

On the Bookshelf – Recent Reads

Authors, many without websites, from and about locations around the world.

What happened when Dorothy returned to Kansas? – Gordon McAlpineAfter Oz

With the release of “Wicked” on film, Dorothy is once again topical and Oz again a fantasy destination. This novel, the authors last before his untimely passing, suggests what may have happened in the days and months after the tornado that whisked the young girl away and back again.

Fantasy author delivers a terrific crime thriller – Dave DobsonWhat Grows From the Dead

North Carolina college professor, improv comic, and writer provides an ensemble cast supporting an unlikely hero who has hit bottom in life and career, only to find he had inherited little from his mom except trouble.

New book about an old cityRuth ReichlThe Paris Novel

Novelist and food writer takes us to Paris in the 1980’s with a young woman needing to find herself (not a cliche, but a charming rendition and tour guide.) Book Club book, gourmet treat, and travel instigator. Already looking at flights.

American Literary Icon who passed away in 2023 – Russell BanksAmerican Spirits

An American treasure whose stories focus on the locales and people in the Adirondacks of upstate New York.  Check out this recent PBS video tribute and a 1995 feature on CBS Sunday Morning which gives an interesting perspective on what young people cared about…30 years ago.

From the 1990’sHenning MankellFaceless Killers

Terrific series taking place in Southern Sweden and featuring Wallender, a main character played deftly on the PBS series by Kenenth Branaugh.

New book from old favorite – Tim O’BrienAmerica Fantastica 

An American Master returns: the author of The Things They Carried and In the Lake of the Woods delivers his first new novel in two decades.

First time author – Nilima RoaA Disappearance in Fiji

What is told as a mystery is really an amazing history lesson of British colonialism, and Indian and native culture in the Fiji Islands off the coast of Australia in 1914.

Ace Atkins

Location for Quinn Colson series – Mississippi

New York Times Bestselling author Ace Atkins has been nominated for every major award in crime fiction, including the Edgar three times, twice for novels about former U.S. Army Ranger Quinn Colson. He has written eight books in the Colson series and continued Robert B. Parker’s iconic Spenser character after Parker’s death in 2010, adding seven best-selling novels in that series. A former newspaper reporter and SEC football player, Ace also writes essays and investigative pieces for several national magazines including TimeOutside and Garden & Gun.

His most recent stand-alone Don’t Let the Devil Ride is a daring ride through Memphis grit.

He lives in Oxford, Mississippi with his family, where he’s a friend to many dogs and several bartenders.

S. A. Cosby

S.A Cosby

Location – Rural Virginia

S.A. Cosby is the New York Times national best selling award-winning author from Southeastern Virginia. His books include MY DARKEST PRAYER, BLACKTOP WASTELAND, Amazon’s #1 Mystery and Thriller of the Year and #3 Best Book of 2020 overall, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice, Winner of the LA Times Book Award for Mystery or Thrillers and a Goodreads Choice Awards Semifinalist and the winner of the ITW award for hard cover book of the year, the Macavity for best novel of the year, the Anthony, The Barry , a honorable mention from the ALA Black Caucus and was a finalists for the CWA Golden Dagger. He is also author of the best selling RAZORBLADE TEARS which was also nominated for numerous awards as well

His short fiction has appeared in numerous anthologies and magazines, and his story “Slant-Six” was selected as a Distinguished Story in Best American Mystery Stories for 2016. His short story “The Grass Beneath My Feet” won the Anthony Award for Best Short Story in 2019. His writing has been called “gritty and heartbreaking” and “dark, thrilling and tragic” and “raw ,emotional and profound ” (Amazon)

His latest release (2023) is All the Sinners Bleed.

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James Grippando

Location – Miami

James Grippando is a New York Times bestselling author with more than thirty books to his credit, including those in his acclaimed series featuring Miami criminal defense attorney Jack Swyteck, and the winner of the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction. He is also a trial lawyer and teaches law and literature at the University of Miami School of Law. He lives in South Florida with his wife, two cats, and a golden retriever named Atlas, who has no idea he’s a dog. 

Nearly three years since starring in his last book, On January 9th, 2024, Jack Swyteck returns to bookstores in Goodbye Girl, the brand new thriller from New York Times bestselling author James Grippando.

Jack Swyteck, a Miami criminal defense lawyer, first appeared in Grippando’s 1994 debut, The Pardon. Since then, he’s gone on to anchor seventeen books to date, including Grippando’s 2021 thriller, Twenty. That book, heartbreakingly timely, featured a tragic plot about a school shooting in Florida that claimed the lives of twenty innocent people. Swyteck ended up in the middle of things after his wife and daughter were present when the carnage started, and then later, after the lead suspect enlists his help in an effort to calm anti-Muslim fervor and clear his name. Now, several years later, Jack Swyteck is finally set to return.

Goodbye Girl, the eighteenth book in Grippando’s series, is said to feature a nail-biting new plot that follows a mega-star artist who takes to social media and encourages her fans to illegally download her music for reasons that reach back decades and promises to have more than a few twists and turns. The Real Book Spy

William Kent Krueger

William Kent Krueger

Location-Minnesota

Raised in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon, William Kent Krueger briefly attended Stanford University—before being kicked out for radical activities. After that, he logged timber, worked construction, tried his hand at freelance journalism, and eventually ended up researching child development at the University of Minnesota. He currently makes his living as a full-time author. He’s been married for over 40 years to a marvelous woman who is an attorney. He makes his home in St. Paul, a city he dearly loves.

Krueger writes a mystery series set in the north woods of Minnesota. His protagonist is Cork O’Connor, the former sheriff of Tamarack County and a man of mixed heritage—part Irish and part Ojibwe. His work has received a number of awards, including the Minnesota Book Award, the Loft-McKnight Fiction Award, the Anthony Award, the Barry Award, the Dilys Award, and the Friends of American Writers Prize. His last five novels were all New York Times bestsellers.

“Ordinary Grace,” his stand-alone novel published in 2013, received the Edgar Award, given by the Mystery Writers of America in recognition for the best novel published in that year. “Windigo Island,” number fourteen in his Cork O’Connor series, was released in August 2014. (Goodreads)

His novel This Tender Land is a Roaming the Arts favorite of 2020.

His Cork O’Connor series continued in 2022 with Fox Creek and his latest stand-alone in 2023, The River We Remember.

 

Rich Curtin (Moab, Utah)

Location – Moab, Utah

Rich Curtin writes a mystery series, featuring Deputy Sheriff, Manny Rivera. He is everything you would want in a hero. and more. Rich Curtin is one of a few fine authors who take the big city police procedurial into the back country setting.

With each mystery comes a travelogue of southeastern Utah featuring Moab and the surrounding majestic landscape. Along with strengh of character, Curtin delivers stories steeped in the history and culture of the area. Now, Moab has grown in popularity as a destination not to be missed the in southwest. Spend some time there with Manny Rivera before you go. And, once you read one of the books in the series and look at some pictures, you will want to go.

 

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Laura Lippman

Location – Maryland

Laura Lippman was a reporter for twenty years, including twelve years at The (Baltimore) Sun. She began writing novels while working full-time and published seven books about “accidental PI” Tess Monaghan before leaving daily journalism in 2001. 

Her work has been awarded the Edgar ®, the Anthony, the Agatha, the Shamus, the Nero Wolfe, Gumshoe and Barry awards.

She also has been nominated for other prizes in the crime fiction field, including the Hammett and the Macavity. She was the first-ever recipient of the Mayor’s Prize for Literary Excellence and the first genre writer recognized as Author of the Year by the Maryland Library Association. Ms. Lippman grew up in Baltimore and attended city schools through ninth grade.

After graduating from Wilde Lake High School in Columbia, Md., Ms. Lippman attended Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. Her other newspaper jobs included the Waco Tribune-Herald and the San Antonio Light.

Robert Galbraith

Location – London and elsewhere in Great Britain

Robert Galbraith a.k.a. J.K. Rowling

When you browse Roaming the Arts you may note that the mission is to drive web traffic to known artists who may be familiar, but not “household names.” Thus you won’t find Bruce Springsteen, The Rolling Stones, or authors whose reach is worldwide such as James Patterson or, in this case, J.K. Rowling. They don’t need this post to send fans to their web presence.

You will also note the Word and Film connection, where it is found to be exciting when a great book has been turned into good film or television. That, in our opinion, is not easy, and is a bit rare and extremely exciting when located.

Ms. Rowling, writing as Robert Galbraith, had ducked under our radar, and in all honesty was found by taking note of the HBO series C.B. Strike, where the first four books in the series have been presented with book five, Troubled Blood, in production. Whether looking for a good read or the next show to stream, Galbraith has created characters in Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacott who will live in your consciousness for some time.

Good news for fans : Book six in the series, The Ink Black Heart, available August 30, 2022

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Robert B. Parker’s Beloved Characters

Location – Boston Area

Spenser / Jesse Stone / Sunny Randall

and the old west with – Cole and Hitch

With the passing of Robert B. Parker, now over ten years ago, his estate has engaged numerous authors to continue his legacy, but more so, to satisfy the longing his readers have for these characters. Throughout, television has engaged these characters. Spenser for Hire as a series, Jesse Stone in regularly released TV movies and a Cole & Hitch western – Appaloosa.

Now, Ace Atkins continues the Spenser series, Michael Brandman, (3) and Reed Farrell Coleman (5) added Jesse Stone stories from 2012-2019, Robert Knott contributed five Cole & Hitch westerns and most recently Mike Lupica, known for his books and sports commentary, has brought back Sunny Randall in three books and is about to publish his second novel in continuation of the Jesse Stone saga.

In this editor’s opinion, they are all gifts and well worthy of keeping these iconic characters alive in fiction. Having only recently finding out about Mike Lupica’s four entries in the mix, I read them all and will continue to do so. What fun to hang out in Boston with Sunny and Jesse. Thank you all.

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C.J. Box

Location – Montana/Wyoming

C. J. Box

C. J. Box is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of 27 novels including the Joe Pickett series. He won the Edgar Alan Poe Award for Best Novel (Blue Heaven, 2009) as well as the Anthony Award, Prix Calibre 38 (France), the Macavity Award, the Gumshoe Award, two Barry Awards, and the 2010 Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Association Award for fiction.  He was recently awarded the 2016 Western Heritage Award for Literature by the National Cowboy Museum as well as the Spur Award for Best Contemporary Novel by the Western Writers of America in 2017.  Over six million copies of his books have been sold in the U.S. and abroad and they’ve been translated into 27 languages.  Two television series based on his novels are currently in development.

Watch “Big Sky” on ABC & Joe Pickett on Paramount+

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