OK, now the fuss is over and I seem to be actually COMING, I need to buy some books I bought Fodors guide to Cape Cod already and Thoreau. But I need some fiction. Preferably well-written crime. I've read all the Robert Parker books and.. that's about it actually.

can anyone point me in the direction of some good fiction set in Boston, Cape Cod or just Massachusetts, please?

I hope you get some great ideas. Not fiction, but I enjoyed reading this recently. An interesting read, especially the moving day and moving the cottage from one end of the Cape to the other -

Cottage for Sale, Must Be Moved: A Woman Moves a House to Make a Home by Kate Whouley

Oh my, there is a plethora to chose from!
William Martin, author of Cape Cod, a great read, and also Back Bay, and Harvard Square, about Boston. All historical novels, with a bit of a mystery included.
There are two mystery writers, who pen novels about the Vineyard. Phillip Craig, and Cynthia Riggs. Both are prolific, and write a series about their particular protaganist. The former, a factotum, formerly a Boston policeman,living on the Vineyard with his wife and family. The latter, her octogenariun female character, who's a deputy to an Island female sheriff. Both authors are fun reads.
Then there is Phoebe Atwood Taylor. She wrote of the Lower Cape (lived in Orleans,) as it was in the 20's,30's and 40's. Asey Mayo (an old Cape name) is her protagonist.
Linda Barnes, and Katherine Hall Page- both Boston novelists,in the mystery genre-both good. They too have continuing characters.
On the Cape- Marie Lee, who lives in Eastham, Margot Arnold, and her fun couple,more Mid Cape- Brewster and Dennis area.Sally Gunning- who lives in Brewster, and has written a mystery series, in paperback-always has Water in the title- Firewater, Hotwater, et al. The former has a "thank you" to my daughter-rather a fun thing! Her newest novel is titled "A Widows War". Set in Brewster, it is based on a sea captains widow, from a diary in the Brewster Historical Museum. Sally was chosen by Barnes and Noble as one of their new young novelists of the year, for this book, and it is good.
Then Alice Hoffman, who lives in Wellfleet, has written "The Blackbird House". It was inspired by her old farmhouse here that she bought and restored. Fun read.
My favorite, is an older book, bought for me by my girls this Xmas. Entitled "A Big House", by George Howe Colt, it is the story of the life of an American summer home, here on the Cape. It was a National Book Award finalist, and is now in Paperback. Terrific book.
Hope I've not overwhelmed you- there are more, if you would like!

Here is a list of some of the oldest/best Bookstores on Cape Cod. Any one or all of them would be glad to list the best Cape Cod fiction/crime books for you:

Armchair Bookstore - route 6A Dennis
Books by the Sea - Osterville
Brewster Bookstore - route 6A Brewster
Cabbages & Kings - Chatham
Titcombs Bookstore - route 6A Sandwich

If you are in Boston and like Robert Parker, stop by Kate's Mystery Bookstore in Cambridge on Massachusetts Avenue. He (Parker) built the bookshelves there.

Mystic River by Dennis Lehane is excellent.

If you like crime you should read Black Mass, it's not fiction but a very well-written account of Whitey Bulger, the Irish mob and the FBI in Boston.

I second the recommendatoin for Dennis Lehane. His characters actually read like Bostonians sound - when I read his dialogue it sounds authentic to me, a life long resident of the area.

The Outermost House: A Year of Life on Cape Cod (or something like that), by
Beston.

Yes! I loved that book.

If you want a short, entertaining read I suggest "Fried Fog...and Other Cape Cod Yarns" by John Ullman. It is not a popular mainstream book but you may be able to find it once you are on the Cape. "Cal Dawson met his mermaid at 3:44 of a Foggy Tuesday afternoon, at slack tide." Witty and soooo old Cape Cod that you won't be able to stop smiling!

Not fiction but a good murder mystery, I can't remember the name of the two books I read but if you google the victums name, you'll find them. She was well known in P-Town and lived in Truro and..well read this:

http://mariaflook.com/work2.htm

Carlotta Carlyle Mysteries by Linda Barnes; Featuring a 6'1" redheaded, taxi-driving detective in Boston.
Cell by Stephen King; A traditional zombie story set in present-day Boston.
The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood; post-nuclear Cambridge and Boston are the setting of this dystopian novel.
Infinite Jest, by David Foster Wallace is set in a partly fictionalized Boston.
Johnny Tremain, by Esther Forbes takes place in Boston in the early 1770s.
The Last Hurrah, by Edwin O'Connor; O'Connor's 1956 account of big-city politics, inspired by the career of longtime Boston Mayor James Michael Curley.
Looking Backward, utopian novel written in 1887 and set in Boston in 2000.
Make Way for Ducklings, iconic children's picture book taking place in Boston Public Garden
Zodiac, by Neal Stephenson; an eco-thriller focusing on industrial pollution in the Boston Harbor.
The Timeline-191 series, by Harry Turtledove; has many characters who live in or are from the Boston Area

cigalechanta is talking about Invisible Eden by M. Flook that is based on a true story about the recent murder of a prominent fashion writer, Christa Worthington in Truro. FYI, a suspect was found for the murder and has recently been convicted...but you won't find him in the book. Unfortunately, Flook managed to wreck havoc with several reputations of men on the outer cape, casting them in a cloud of suspicion or portraying them in a less-than-professional light. She also trashed Christa and sensationalized the gory murder. If you are into that kind of suspense, by all means pick up the book.

Hi Sheila -

All of Dennis Lehane's books are good. Jeremiah Healey mysteries. No one writes Boston like George V. Higgins. Have a great trip.

Sharon

yellowbyrd, I wasn't referring to Flooks book about that murder. I posted that because of thé details of the crime, and the cast of suspects. I never read her book.

and the other two don't have all the facts.
Write in haste, lose face.

http://www.capecodtoday.com/blogs/in...urder/2006/10/

cigalechanta, Invisible Eden was given to me by a friend when it first came out. Sad to say that I did read it (My prurient interest got the better of me!) Not particularly well written. I guess compared to all the real-life tragedy that's on reality TV these days, such a crime-novel will seem rather tame.

Big second for "Outermost House," by Henry Beston -- it's short but will give you a sense of the "real," natural Cape around the 4 seasons. It was written in the 30s or 40s, but he spent a year in a house WAY out on a bluff (I believe in the Orleans area), well before very much in the way of population. He had no power and survived some storms but saw some wonderufl things.

Think a sort of non-competitor "Survivor," or a sole-survivor "Lost" (with no Others anywhere).

Actually Beston's dune shack, the Fo' castle was located on the outer beach of Eastham...what is now called Coast Guard Beach. It was washed out to sea during the Blizzard of 1978. Remnants of other beach shacks in the same area could be seen on a beach walk until around 1994 but they are all just a distant memory now. Another wonderful book, but not fiction, is the Geologist's View of Cape Cod by Strahler. If you are looking for a fascinating not-too-technical discussion on the natural process that form and continue to change the Cape Cod coastline then I highly recommend it.

I would say "you guys are the best", but, frankly, I'm overwhelmed.

The ideas are terrific, and as the gap closes- slowly, so slowly-I think I now need to order.

Capecodshanty, especially, I love the ideas, and that you can pin them down so tight, is terrific.

I know Linda Barnes, but haven't read many, so I'll add her.

Gene, thanks for the recommendations. I have a minor problem, in that I need to shake loose of my husband, who thinks I am sick and addicted.

Thomas6, we're staying in Boston the night we get there, from lunchtime, and may just possibly go out to Cambridge, so the bookstore is a possibility. Same problem as previously intimated, tho'.

I've read all of Dennis Lehane's books, and the way that bennnie described them, put me in mind of Higgins, although it's years since I've read any of his.

I don't like horror, so I'll give Stephen King a by, but I like the idea of a 19th century book set in 2000.

Our resident geologist isn't coming, but...

Any more ideas? (capecodshanty, especially)

I bought the Fodor guide, and Thoreau on Cape Cod, and one of my buddies bough the Lonely Planet one. Any more suggestions as to guide books? I think we could manage ONE more (if I don't tell my husband....)