Boston is my favorite city to travel to. Looking for suggestions for fiction set in Boston. Will also read books about the city.
Boston is my favorite city to travel to. Looking for suggestions for fiction set in Boston. Will also read books about the city.
There are a lot of crime books set in Boston. Dennis Lehane’s books generally take place in Boston. The Rizzoli & Isles books by Tess Gerritsen.Mary Janice Davidson’s Fred the Mermaid series takes place in Boston.
was just going to suggest the rizzoli and isles books!
The Red Coat- A Novel of Boston by Dolley Carlson.
@Aimee I just finished this and told my husband we need to go to Boston!!!
@Maggie me too!
I loved this book – I’m an Irish girl from MA and it was such a good read!
The Boston Girl by Anita Diamant.
I love that one!
If you like Historical fiction The Boston Girl was very good.
Mystic River. Check out Dennis Lehane, he’s a local author.
And you’ve got good taste – I love that dirty water!
Boston you’re my home!
@Erin Yes it is!
I agree with Kara, Tess Gerritsen’s Rizzoli and Isles books are great. I especially recommend The Bone Garden. That had me hooked from the start.
Dark Tide. Non fiction about the great molasses flood in 1907(?). Amazing story.
I have read one book about the Molasses Flood but not that one!
Saturday evening girls club
I will 8th Dennis Lehane
Like others said, Dennis Lehane. Also Prince of Theives that everyone things is written by Dennis Lehane ?
All Souls by Micheal Patrick MacDonald is one of the best memoirs I have ever read. The Spenser series are fun and easy to read. The Unseen World by Liz Moore is a good read,
All Souls by Michael Patrick Macdonald
The Art of the Heist: Confessions of a Master Thief by Jenny Silva & Myles Connor
I’ve lived in Boston for 14 years now, and these two are my favorites.
It ends with us by Colleen hoover
All Souls was a great read
Saints For All Occasions by J. Courtney Sullivan
Anything about the witchcraft trials. Then next time you’re in Boston go visit the Salem area. So interesting.
Heretics Daughter is fantastic
When Ashes Fall by Marni Mann is a great book!!
A Civil Action by Jonathan Harr
Historical Fiction – Boston Girl
I live here so I’m curious? Why in God’s name is this your favorite city? ?
@Rebecca how is it not?!?! ?
@Rebecca We visited there on vacation several years ago because my son is a Red Sox fan and loved everything about Boston. The architecture, the people, the history, the food, getting around, and how walkable the city is!
@Alyssa I can’t imagine. I’m a bit Bitter though since I had to leave NYC for Boston
I can’t imagine a single city that hold’s a candle to Boston!
@Gretchen NYC? But I’m out in Newton so I don’t go downtown often.
@Michele it’s just so small!!! But it’s one hell of a sports town! ?
No NYC is much more aggressive. I prefer Boston too and I live 50 miles from NYC
@Jenna I’ve become an old curmudgeon. NYC has too many tourists and Boston has too many students! Hah
@Rebecca I have been to NYC 3 times, that’s 2 times too many! I love the charm, the fierce loyalty, the familiarity and so much more about Boston. I moved here when I was 18 for college and briefly left and regretted it!
@Michele you need to come to the cape too!!
@Rebecca I can wear my penny loafers in Boston. In NY they make fun of this old lady
@Jenna you must not have been in the ues! ?
Rebecca Kerster Stahl in baseball terms I get that statement you made above. ?
I grew up about 45 minutes outside of Boston, in Lancaster (Worcester county) and even though I have lived all over the US, I still love Boston best! It’s just wicked awesome!
@Rebecca I’m from a smallish town in Central Illinois. I loved the feel of Boston so much better than that of Chicago, St.Louis, or Indy. Maybe the “smaller-ness” of it is the appeal for me? Getting around is so much easier than Chicago. Plus…Fenway!
@Jessica Yes!
@Rebecca, I’m with you! I love Boston for visiting because of the friends and family I have there, but can’t see myself living there. But NYC is my kind of place. Lived there for years. I’m in CT now, but in the city for work. But yes on the tourists. I avoid Times Sq like the plague! My office moved today from Union Sq to Columbus Circle. I anticipate an increase of tourist exposure and I’m not looking forward to it.
I wish I still lived there!
@Rebecca I was born and raised in Newton! Now I live in Lala land.
Most of Lisa Genova’s books are set in the Boston area and are really good
The Boston Girl was great. I listened to it and felt like a beloved grandmother was telling me her story. I didn’t want it to end.
DENNIS LEHANE!!! the best writing about boston. Also, there is a grea memoir about growing up in Southie called “ALL SOULS” by Michael Patrick MacDonald.
Also I”m a boston native too…so I have read ALL of them…and there is a short story collection called Boston Noir, that is also great (most large cities have this collection, and I try to buy one in whatever city I”m in). And…The Town, the Ben Affleck film is based on a book by Chuck Hogan called Prince of Thieves, but was also re released as “The Town” . And, Black MAss is great as are all the “southie mob ” books about Whitey Bulger and there are MANY.
ohhh the Denis Lehane Patrick and Angie books. All of his books are set in Boston, but those are his first ones and I read them when I moved to there a thousand years ago (before he got really big)
The First Time They Met by Anita Shreve. Also Elin Hildebrand and Nancy Thayer donislnd settings in MA.
@Courtney -Elin Hildebrand’s books are always on Nantucket. Except one that is also partly on Martha’s Vineyard.
I’m a fan of Elin Hilderbrand too, but her books are NOT set in Boston, they are very specific to Nantucket Island.
The Boston Girl
Saturday Evening Girls Club
A really old book about Boston politics: The Last Hurrah.
Same girl! I really enjoyed The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl.
Boston Girl
Lisa Gardner has some great Boston themed books!
Meet the O’Brien’s
Elin Hilderbrand’s Winter Street series has parts set in Boston. One of the couples in the book lives there.
Prince of Thieves by Chuck Hogan.
Boston Girl (sorry…can’t remember the author). It was a lovely read!
The Spenser series by Robert Parker, any book by Dennis Lehane, Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace, Winthrop Woman by Anya Seton (starts in England, then Boston then Long Island. It takes place in the 1630s). This should keep you busy for some time. I can think of some more if you want. I love books that take place in MA. Reading about the area keeps me in touch with my roots. I grew up on a sea coast town just north of Boston.
Anya Seton, nice. Will have to look that up thx
Shelley Schenk Anya Seton predates Phillipa Gregory. I think of her as the grandmother of historical fiction. Over the years I have alternated which of Seton’s books are my favorite. Her writing is rich and pretty historically accurate.
I strongly second the Spenser series. Lots of famous places or recognizable places are mentioned. I had read a lot of them before my first trip to Boston and found I was having de ja vu as some spots because of his descriptions. They are fun, quick reads though the early ones that Parket actually wrote are best. He has been dead several years but the series has been continued. Parker seemed to be so much like Spenser when interviewed that it was hard to separate them So when Parker died, Spenser dies for me too.
I read ALL and loved the Spenser books when Parker was alive, now they are done “by comittee” and are not as good.
@Susan EXACTLY. well said.
@Marjorie I haven’t liked the Spenser books since he died either. I am originally from Swampscott, right next town over from *”Paradise” (Marblehead) MA.
* from the Jesse Stone series.
@Marjorie agree!
Saints for All Occasions by J. Courtney Sullivan. Dennis Lehane. Chuck Hogan’s Prince of Thieves- the movie The Town was based on the book. Joseph Finder, many of his books are Boston based. Same with Lisa Gardner. Boston girl born and raised here.?
The Brothers Bulger: How they terrorized and corrupted Boston (true crime)
Defending Jacob is set in a Boston suburb
@Elaine and it’s becoming a TV series! They are starting filming in a few weeks outside Boston. Similar to True Detective, each season is based on a new book
@Gretchen where are they filming? Do you know what town?
@Mygal Mostly in Newton/Wellesley. Possibly Waltham, I met with a location scout last week about a possible location I manage being used.
@Gretchen really! Oooo! I work in Watertown.
@Mygal the guy who plays Captain America stars along with Michelle Dockery of Downton Abbey/Good Behavior!
@Gretchen no! Chris Evans! He is originally from Sudbury. Love him and her. I’ll have to keep my eye out
@Mygal yes him, my husband was all excited it was Captain America and I was like “but it’s Lady Mary Crawley”!
@Gretchen lol
That was a good one @Elaine
Dennis Lehane’s
Books are set in Dorchester/Boston area. Love them!
Robert B Parker. Awesome
Parkers books were awesome!!!
Most of the books in William Martin’s Peter Fallon series are set in Boston or the area. Also wrote a book on the history of Cape Cod (sigh). ?
@Paula Ohhh he is one of my favorite authors, Harvard Yard and Back Bay are both great historical fiction, great beach reads
@Gretchen love them! And… it looks like Brilliance Audio is bringing several out in audiobook this summer! Happy dance cha cha cha ?
Gretchen Ferreira Barron I loved them both also —-much truth in them but still fiction. The author’s brother in law was a teacher @ Belmont Hill.
Handmaid’s Tale is set in a dystopian Boston
You guys have given me so many books to look at! I knew I could count on my book peeps. Thank you all so much!!!
@Michele oh! Don’t forget Dennis Lehane. Lol ?
If you like mysteries try the Remy Chandler books
I believe all of Lisa Genova’s books are set in Boston. They are wonderful, but heartbreaking.
DD Warren series by Lisa Gardner ♥️♥️