Most recent one I can think of that I read was Allegra Goodman's Intuition set in Cambridge. Great book. Of course, Philbrick's Mayflower is in the to-be-read pile.

Thirsty, a vampire novel by M.T. Anderson was set in Massachusetts near the Quabbin. I didn't really like the book that much but it was neat to read about places I had actually been.

That's amusing. I never would have thought of the Quabbin as a setting for a vampire novel!

Another writer of vampire stories, Amelia Atwater-Rhodes, is also from Massachusetts. I believe she lives out near Boston, I can't remember the name of the town. I'm pretty sure her stories are set right around where she lives.

I feel that Nathaniel Hawthorne is the all-time best representative of this category.

Thanks for the intriguing topic, Avaland...

Hawthorne. Hmmm. Yes, I might agree with you, especially with regards to fiction. I'm hard-pressed to come up with the name of a contemporary fiction author who might be considered "regional." While an author like Michael C. White sets some of his books in Massachusetts, he doesn't set them all there; I think the same goes for Alice Hoffman. Seems easier with mystery authors...Dennis Lehane certainly has represented Dorchester; Philip Craig the Vineyard...and so on.

Tess Gerritsen has many (mystery) books set in Boston and the surrounding suburbs--definitely everything written after The Surgeon, but I don't know about her earlier works.

Christopher Golden graduated from Tufts and lives north of Boston; he sets many of his non-franchise novels in Massachusetts--mostly sf and horror (Tears of the Furies, The Ferryman, Straight on 'Til Morning, but some young adult mysteries (Burning Bones, Head Games) as well.

William Martin writes historical fiction novels set in Massachusetts: Cape Cod, Back Bay, Harvard Yard etc.
Also Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs.

Message edited by its author, Mar 24, 2008, 9:10pm.

#2...Actually, Thirsty is not set near the Quabbin. The reservoir in the book is Lake Wampanoag, in Worcester County.

Anderson mentions many cities and towns from all across Massachusetts -- Lenox, Williamstown, Springfield, Pepperell, Worcester, Boston. However, I believe he invented the main towns (Bradley and Clayton).