Write Where You Know: 6 Hometown-Inspired Crime Novels

My first four novels were all set in New York City, where I lived for 20 years. I wrote about the city, in part, because it was easy. It was home. With eight million people, there was literally a story on every corner, and since I’d been a local news reporter for several years, I knew all kinds of details about neighborhoods and communities.

But in 2019, I moved 50 miles north to a town (technically, a village) of 3,000. So much was different, and thus, intriguing. And what do writers do when they’re intrigued? We start writing! The novel inspired by my adopted hometown is I Dreamed of Falling, and on the occasion of its September 17 publication I thought I’d shout out six fantastic crime novels written about the authors’ hometown.

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

Shaker Heights, Ohio

Celeste Ng grew up in Shaker Heights, a suburb of Cleveland and one of the first planned communities in the country. It was supposed to be a kind of utopia, but of course, those don’t really exist. Ng’s second novel (which was also turned into a banger Hulu series co-written by Attica Locke, see below!) beautifully addresses wealth disparities and racism in the storied community.

All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby

Mathews County, Virginia

In the prologue to this novel about the hunt for a serial killer who preys on children, S.A. Cosby writes about the fictional county where the book is set: “Charon County was founded in bloodshed and darkness.” In an interview on NPR’s Fresh Air, Cosby talked about Mathews County as being the inspiration for Charon County, and about how it is “haunted by its past.” All the Sinners Bleed is indeed a haunting book, and the way Cosby grapples with the history of the place makes it an important one, too.

Safe and Sound by Laura McHugh

Ozark County, Missouri

Laura McHugh grew up in the Ozarks and all her books—from her Thriller Award Winning The Weight of Blood, to the most recent, Safe and Sound—are set in and around this part of the country. It’s a place most Americans forget about, where poverty is rampant and life can seem hopeless. McHugh writes about women in this world, and Safe and Sound is a chilling story about women who try to escape—and are punished for it.

Guide Me Home by Attica Locke

East Texas

Locke’s trilogy featuring Texas Ranger Darren Matthews takes place along Highway 59 in East Texas, the area where she grew up, and where her family lived for generations. Each novel focuses on a different crime and each delves deep into the landscape and history of this place, exploring themes of race, family, and, ultimately, the meaning of home.

The Collective by Alison Gaylin

Hudson Valley, NY

Alison Gaylin lives in Woodstock, NY., a storied town on the edge of the Hudson Valley and the Catskill Mountains, The Collective takes place (like I Dreamed of Falling) up and down the Hudson Valley. This absolute nail-biter of a revenge fantasy is the story of a woman who joins a shadowy group of vigilantes after her daughter is murdered. It’s dark as hell and lingers long after the final page.

Shoot the Moonlight Out by William Boyle

Brooklyn, NY

William Boyle is the bard of Brooklyn. Born and raised in the southern end of the borough, he’s a fourth-generation Brooklyn-ite and his books bring the beauty and grit of the place and its people to vivid life. Shoot the Moonlight Out is the story of the aftermath of a devastating, but sort of accidental, crime committed by two teenage boys in the summer of 1996. I love how this book illustrates that the neighborhoods of America’s biggest city are like small towns, where try as you might, it’s hard to escape your past. Now living in Oxford, Mississippi, Boyle says, “I can write about my neighborhood forever and be content.”

About I Dreamed of Falling by Julia Dahl:

Roman Grady is the sole reporter for the local newspaper in a tiny Hudson Valley town—a town so small that every store opening and DUI is considered newsworthy. But when Roman’s longtime girlfriend, Ashley, the mother of his four-year-old son, is found dead, he realizes he had no idea what was really going on in her life.

And when he starts asking questions, he’s not prepared for the answers.

What was Ashley doing at the cliffside home of her troubled ex-girlfriend? How did no one in a house full of people see what happened to her? And why does it seem like everyone in town suddenly has something to hide? As Roman and his mother dig into Ashley’s last few months, the truths they uncover threaten to expose painful secrets. The kind of secrets that can get you killed.

A gripping thriller and a moving portrait of a family struggling through tragedy, Dahl’s unflinching novel asks hard questions about love, regret, inequality, and the possibilities and the perils of forgiveness.