Here's a place to talk about fiction/nonfiction set in New York.

Lots of good mysteries set in New York. Nero Wolfe is the first to come to mind, but here's a link from stopyourekillingme.com

http://stopyourekillingme.com/LocationCa...

Also Richard Barth, Rhys Bowen, Lincoln Child and Douglas Preston, Claudia Bishop, Jill Churchill, Selma Eichler, Emma Lathen - really, the list goes on and on.

I just read Cemetery Dance Lincoln Child and Douglas Preston's latest. It was fantastic, and gave quite a good picture of New York City, if not the NY PD.

I also like Linda Fairstein's mysteries....she always gives a good cultural lesson about some phase of New York. So far this year I've learned about the underground tunnel system in NYC and the New York Public Library's fantastic rare maps and books collection.

Don't forget Linda Fairstein's series.

New York has so many books set there, that any list would become unwieldy. Seriously, for every book set elsewhere in the United States there are at least two set in New York (especially NYC).

The Clare Fergusson series by Julia Spencer-Fleming is set in upstate New York, north of Albany. It conveys a fabulous sense of the place - the mountains and farms and rugged wilderness.

edited because I got the author's hyphenated name backwards

Message edited by its author, Jul 1, 2009, 1:44pm.

I got an older Gothic novel from the library today called Dragonwyck. It's set in New York among the rich and powerful. It sounds promising.

So many great books set in New York- Many of Joyce Carol Oates's books are set in upstate NY.

City of Dreams by Beverly Swerling is set in early New York. An engrossing historical fiction novel. Would recommend.

I just finished Sundays at Tiffany's, which was a little too sweet for me, but NYC was a big part of the story.

I'm reading Brooklyn by Colm Toibin, about the Irish immigrant community in 1950s New York. It's fantastic so far, I can see why Toibin keeps getting shortlisted for the Booker.

I just finished it (Brooklyn) and it's one of my favorites of the year. Toibin is a great storyteller and fine writer. Takes place in NY in the 1950s.

Message edited by its author, Sep 20, 2009, 12:24am.

If you like food, I can't recommend the non-fiction book Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise by Ruth Reichl enough. Ruth was the food critic in LA and transfers with her family to NYC to write for the NY Times. Her descriptions of the lengths she had to go to hide herself from savy NY Restaurants are hilarious. Her descriptions of the food are mouth watering. And she layers in some of her own personal recipes (which I haven't tried yet, but will someday).

If you are looking for NYC non-fiction -

Mannahatta - Eric Sanderson - geographical history of Manhattan since Henry Hudson's arrival

Central Park in the Dark - Marie Winn - birds, bats, bugs in Central park