What book(s) do you think do a great job of conveying the "local flavor" of a particular town or region?

ConnieDonovan@webtv.net
Some of the books that I think really represent a region or area well are Back Bay by William Martin, Joy Street by Frances Parkinson Keyes, William Tapley's books about Concord or Lexington MA. All the books by George V. Higgins. The language, the way people talk, the areas he writes about are so true to life. I also think Edwin O'Connor's books, particularly The Last Hurrah and The Edge of Sadness, truly depict life in the 50's, the Catholic Church, and the people are so like my own family. The way they talk, think and act. Robert Cormier's books were great - especially in the way they depicted Leominster, MA. I knew every place he wrote about and even went to some of the places. I like to be able to picture myself in wherever I read about, and when I know the area it's so much more meaningful.

Mkelly3501@aol.com
I grew up on Lake Michigan's shores in Indiana. Many of Andrew Greeley's novels take place in Chicago with summer homes in Grand Beach, Michigan. He has his characters playing golf at the course where I learned how to play, they go to movies at the one theater in town, and eat in local restaurants. I haven't lived there since I was 18 but it's like going home just reading one of his books.

Pugpals@aol.com
House of Sand and Fog does a great job with the San Francisco Bay area as do the mystery books of Marcia Muller.

RAVEN0555@aol.com
Ray Bradbury has made a career of conveying the "local flavor" of a particular town or region. Even the ones which no one has yet seen, visited, or lived in...

GDurisin@aol.com
Lisa Scottoline sets her mysteries in Philadelphia, and obviously knows the city well. The local flavor gives the book an "insider" feel to readers who have spent much time in Philly.

DCCJ1@aol.com
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is a perfect example.

Nana1248@aol.com
To Kill a Mockingbird, The Firm, Murder Shoots the Bull

Myskas@aol.com
Any book by Anne Rice. She makes her scenes come alive with vivid color and it's so real that when she describes a sound you can almost hear it, a building you can almost see it, a smell you can faintly detect it. Whether it's her beloved New Orleans, San Francisco, or France in the 13th century, you feel that you're there. Read the Vampire Chronicles, the saga of the Mayfair Witches, or any of her other books (Cry to Heaven is a favorite) and you'll understand.

Jsaofusa@aol.com
I think Nevada Barr conveys her locations beautifully. Whether it's describing Mesa Verde or Cumberland Island she does a superb job of putting the reader right into the landscape. Her best accomplishment in this vein was in her terrific book, Blind Descent, set in Carlsbad Caverns. I felt as if I were crawling in the caverns myself.

Afnak@aol.com
"Beach Music" and "The Prince of Tides" by Pat Conroy are so beautiful in the descriptions of South Carolina. Anything by Mr. Conroy just makes the reader feel that he can actually see the places being described.

beckybee@eagle.ptialaska.net
Sue Henry has put out several books having to do with Alaska, such as Murder on the Iditarod, and Murder on the Yukon Quest and also Deadfall. All have to do with the area between Anchorage and Nome Alaska. It really is wonderful and I know that many would love her books.

SMSEIFR@aol.com
Definitely Les Roberts series of Milan Jacovich mysteries set in Cleveland. It's a perfect blend of the city's modern culture and ethnic background.

Qabob@aol.com
This book gave very good descriptions of life in rural New York with all the small towns and farms mentioned in it. The tragic demise of the Mulvaney Farm was a sad commentary on modern life. I enjoyed this book very much!

clingdfvgp@aol.com
The book, Errands, by Judith Guest is a book about a family in crisis over a very sick father. They spend time traveling along the Lake Huron shoreline from Detroit to their vacation home. The descriptions of the little villages and the first sighting of the blue water of Lake Huron impelled me to pack a picnic lunch, and my husband and I drove along the shoreline all the way to the little town where Miss Guest supposedly lives according to the book's jacket. State Rt.23 from Standish, Michigan to Harrison is full of quaint shops and parks and the sparkling views of the very blue and beautiful Lake Huron. The images are delightfully accurate and display Miss Guest's intimate knowledge of the area.

SBoyle6827@aol.com
Phyllis Whitney gives the best descriptions of places that I have ever read. If you visit somewhere, she has had in one of her stories, you feel as if you have been there before. An excellent writer.

DThomas201@aol.com
Les Roberts has a series with a detective and it is set in Cleveland, OH and he captures everything well.

Bossdoris@aol.com
I always read Larry Block's books. He knows New York City well and always takes me back to my fun years. I'm always disappointed when an author changes the locality around. One famous writer, (I will leave nameless) thinks the "Russian Brighten Beach" community is in New Jersey.

cardlady5@juno.com
James Lee Burke's Dave Robicheaux books convey the food , heat and overall feel of Louisiana.

Ella480@aol.com
Peachtree Road by Anne Rivers Siddons

Metoomama@aol.com
I think Steve King's book "IT" describes the region around Bangor, Maine vividly.

NoelWillis@aol.com
These two give great insights into the town (city) of Santa Fe, New Mexico. First, earlier is "Death Comes For The Archbishop" by Willa Cather. Second, and quite current, is "Rainbow's End" by Martha Grimes. Interesting topic.

BOELDESUET@aol.com
Shirley Ann Grau effectively portrays New Orleans in the fifties in her novel The House on Coliseum Street. I worked there in the seventies and saw and experienced many of the behaviors of the residents and the problems with the land and the climate. She creates excellent social connections.

TerraComs@aol.com
I think James Lee Burke is a master at evoking the atmosphere of the Louisiana Bayou country. He has placed his Cajun cop Dave Robicheaux in an atmosphere in which I can almost taste those shrimp po boys and dirty rice, feel the crackling, almost constant lightning, flickering in the lowering horizon clouds and the accompanying steamy, almost tactile air. Elizabeth George is also a master at conveying mood and sense of place in her British mystery novels. 

HOSTOPRHLadyj@aol.com
Those by Jenny Lykins 

MLWReader@aol.com
I grew up in NYC, and still love to read books that are set there. Recently, I was taken on a "metro" tour of LA, where I now live, and saw all the beautiful new subway stations the MTA has built. Each one has a different theme. At one of the stops, we got off and took the "Angel's Flight" trolley up Bunker Hill. It completely captured my imagination, and when I got to the top, there was a rack full of Michael Connelly's book Angels Flight for sale. Of course I had to buy one, and read it. Unfortunately, recently, there was a terrible accident on the Angel's Flight trolley, and an elderly man, a tourist from Ohio, was killed. They have shut it down, are doing an investigation, and, oh yes, of course the family is suing. It's too bad, because it is such a wonderful piece of Los Angles History, The trolley was completely restored before the accident. It's actually two trolley cars on a cable, they pass each other, one on the way up and one on the way down. It costs a quarter. Hope it all gets resolved soon. Oh, and by the way, the book was terrific.

Bkwmwc1229@aol.com
Midnight In the Garden of Good and Evil absolutely showcases Savannah, GA. Most books by Anne Rice showcase New Orleans --- especially INTERVIEW and WITCHING HOUR. Tom Wolfe did the same for NYC in BONFIRE. Like most, I could go on and on...

TOMINNIS@aol.com
The Moviegoer by Walker Percy evokes New Orleans to a fair thee well: Thunderclouds over the French Quarter and the Wide Brown River dragging just beyond the levee: Moisture and the slow afternoons of despair rising in the heated air . A Death In The Family by James Agee: "We are talking now of summer evenings in Knoxville, Tennessee in the time that I lived there so successfully disguised to myself as a child." When I read those words for the first time I knew I'd found an incomparable stylist. James Agee summons Knoxville in the summer of 1915. And, in doing so, Knoxville becomes the place where each of us has our childhood. The Plays of William Inge ("Picnic," "Come Back Little Sheba," "The Dark at the Top of the Stairs," et.al.) depict the character of a very specific place: Southeast Kansas. The longing-for-elsewhere among the inhabitants of that part of Kansas is crafted into all of Inge's stories. Inge's gift was his awareness of that yearning and how it effected Kansans' daily lives. His writing makes it compelling and universally heartbreaking. 

Dollposh@aol.com
Counting Coup by Larry Colton, it says a lot about the little Native American region in New Mexico he's visiting. It's a really great book.

Neysa7777@aol.com
Tony Hillerman writes a tolerable mystery, but his real talent lies in the ability to describe the scenery, culture and ecological presence of the Four Corners area of Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado. When I read his stories, I am transported to the dusty roads of the Navajo Reservation on the road past Chinlee. I gaze out across the purple breaks of the foothills to a sunstreaked evening sky. I take on a slower, more leisurely pace as I slip into Navajo time. My house becomes the (My last name) outfit, as I journey home at days end. 

MTK12345@aol.com
The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy

simmons401@aol.com
I think that Tony Hillerman in his novels about the Navajo Indian reservation makes me feel that I'm there with Joe Leaphorn and the other characters in his mysteries of the Southwest. I've traveled throughout the state of Arizona and every time I read one of his books I can see the mountains and desert.

Wcpainter@aol.com
Without question, the imagery of James Michener remains forever in my mind. Chesapeake Bay reverberating from the sound of the geese arriving, the Alaskan frontier, the "tells" of the Middle East... Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt was very picturesque and alive with mystic. More recently, the Martha Grimes' trilogy --- The End of the Pier, Hotel Paradise, and Cold Flat Junction. Her vivid descriptions of the local cafes, the old house by the lake, the hotel, the train station... Her books always have the marvelous ability to let you experience the place and the people.

MoM3g2b@aol.com
Hands down Patricia Cornwell with her Kay Scarpetta novels set in Richmond, VA.

jkeenley@juno.com
By far and away the book I think has done the best job of conveying local flavor is "Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil." 

mebc@triad.rr.com
"Two Summers Too Hot" by Wilson Crawford is a book about growing up in a small southern town. All aspects of this book, the local drugstore, gas station, grocery store, city park pool, drive in movie - all of these remind me of my childhood. Summertime memories in the south!

JoyZoo@aol.com
Tony Hillerman's novels about Navajo life gave us such a sense of the country that we were drawn to visit the Four Corners. Everything he described was there and our awareness and appreciation of them was intense. The difference was that the Navajos are a private people. I was full of questions for our guide, and I kept having to pull back and ask him if those were questions I should not have asked. (None were things I would have felt uncomfortable telling him.) The country brought to life the descriptions, but since the locals were not interested in having us be a part of their lives, Tony Hillerman's books actually did a better job of putting us into the Canyon de Chelley that our vacation did! Why haven't we had any books from Tony Hillerman lately? As my gynecologist once said of his work, "The only thing wrong with his books is that he doesn't write enough of them!"

shelly3@charter.net
M.F.K. Fisher does an incredible job of conveying France in her book The Gastronomical Me. Reading about her adventures awakened my senses to the French people, the food, the climate and the scenery.

MSJJHC@aol.com
The books that immediately came to mind that convey the flavor of life in a local town or region were Cold Sassy Tree and Fried Green Tomotoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe. The book I'm reading now makes me feel like I'm right in the middle of Egg Fork, Kentucky -- Prodigal Summer. 

hbeaton@qwc.asn.au
Nick Earls' Zig Zag Street - soon to be released in the US. Andrew McGahan's Last Drinks. Chris Nyst's Cop This.