I'm now reading the lastest Cat Who mystery by L.J. Braun and, once again, am wondering where exactly Moose County is. It reminds me of northern Wisconsin, but does anyone know?

And as a further challenge: where are the "real" settings for your favorite books, esp. series, that have fictious settings as a major part of the story -- e.g.: Peyton Place, or Grafton's Santa Barbara -- it IS Santa Barbara, isn't it?

Peyton Place is really Laconia, New Hampshire.

Sue Grafton's fictional town is called Santa Teresa, but it's modeled entirely on Santa Barbara, where she lives or lived.

Theodore Dreiser's novel "An American Tragedy" was a fictionalized account of Chester Gillette murder case. The deed was believed to have been committed in a boat on Raquette Lake NY in the Adirondacks. The subsequent trial was held in Utica NY; covering it was my grandfather's first assignment as a cub reporter for the Syracuse paper - trust me - I've heard the story many, many times!

According to a North Carolina Literary Review, the fictional Moose County is in Northern Michigan. Try http://wpl.lib.in.us/roger/bumbler.html

Chester Gillette's trial was held in Herkimer, NY not Utica .

Lillian Jackson Braun lives in tiny Polk County, North Carolina. Although the fictional Moose County is in Northern Michigan....I often see little things in the book that bring Polk County to mind. It seems this area attracts many writers and artists, because they can hide away and hone their craft while surrounded by absolute beauty, and the local folks tend to respect their need for privacy.

One of my favorite books is "Cold Mountain", which is set in the area around the real cold mountain (which was not, sad to say, used when they made the film). It was interesting to read the book and realize that I had roamed quite a few of the locations mentioned in it on many of my hikes.

It helped bring the book to life for me, and made it even more interesting than it would have been otherwise.

according to Wikepedia, Moose County is in the area of Bad Axe Michigan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lilian_Jackson_Braun

Grafton's books are definitely modeled on Santa Barbara. I lived there for 5 years and it's amazing to read her books and visualize myself at the exact place she is writing about!