Books set in Delaware
Every state has its hallmark writers. Mississippi has William Faulkner and his incomparable (fictional) Yoknapatawpha County and Missouri can lay claim to Mark Twain. The state of Maine is gifted with Pulitzer winner Richard Russo and horror icon Stephen King. Rural Pennsylvania is the playground of the much-heralded (and occasionally maligned) John Updike, and when many bibliophiles think of New Jersey, they also think of Richard Ford's series of novels featuring recurring Everyman character Frank Bascombe. Illinois can lay claim to William Maxwell, Sandra Cisneros, and Adam Langer, among numerous others. And what reader can think of Washington State without contending with the sparkle-vampire yarns of Stephanie Meyer?
What makes authors like these inextricably associated with a particular state is not simply the matter of their having been born there or choosing to live there. The connection, from a writerly standpoint, is deeper than that—their work, nearly all of it, is set in "their" state.
Of course, there are certainly exceptions. Whether a writer sets a tale in the town where they went to college or spent part of their childhood—like Donna Tartt's "The Secret History" and its New England arts school setting and the almost-factual small town of Jo Ann Beard's "In Zanesville," respectively—or crafts a story that follows a social or political theme to a location they know little about but lay narrative claim to anyway, the world is rife with books known, loved, and respected that also capture the essence of place—books where setting itself is one of the strongest characters.
Stacker compiled a list of books set in Delaware from Goodreads. Whether you're looking for a good read set in the state you call home, or you're looking to expand your curiosity with a writer you're already familiar with, we've got you covered.
And Never Let Her Go: Thomas Capano: The Deadly Seducer
- Author: Ann Rule
- Published: January 1, 1999
- Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, Crime, Mystery
- Read more on Goodreads
Hawkes Harbor
- Author: S.E. Hinton
- Published: September 1, 2004
- Genres: Fiction, Horror, Fantasy, Vampires
- Read more on Goodreads
Sunburn
- Author: Laura Lippman
- Published: February 20, 2018
- Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Thriller, Mystery Thriller
- Read more on Goodreads
We Dream of Space
- Author: Erin Entrada Kelly
- Published: May 5, 2020
- Genres: Middle Grade, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical
- Read more on Goodreads
A Light in the Storm: The Civil War Diary of Amelia Martin, Fenwick Island, Delaware, 1861
- Author: Karen Hesse
- Published: September 1, 1999
- Genres: Historical Fiction, Young Adult, Fiction, Historical
- Read more on Goodreads
The Book of Unknown Americans
- Author: Cristina Henríquez
- Published: June 3, 2014
- Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Audiobook, Adult Fiction
- Read more on Goodreads
Promises to Keep: On Life and Politics
- Author: Joe Biden
- Published: July 31, 2007
- Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, Biography, Memoir
- Read more on Goodreads
West of Rehoboth
- Author: Alexs D. Pate
- Published: September 1, 2001
- Genres: Fiction, African American, Historical Fiction, Novels
- Read more on Goodreads
The Saint of Lost Things
- Author: Christopher Castellani
- Published: January 1, 2005
- Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Italy, Contemporary
- Read more on Goodreads
The Discreet Charms of a Bourgeois Beach Town: Rehoboth Beach Stories
- Author: Rich Barnett
- Published: June 12, 2012
- Genres: Humor, Memoir, Nonfiction
- Read more on Goodreads
A Gentleman's Game
- Author: Tom Coyne
- Published: May 1, 2001
- Genres: Sports
- Read more on Goodreads
Fight Club
- Author: Chuck Palahniuk
- Published: August 1, 1996
- Genres: Fiction, Classics, Contemporary, Thriller
- Read more on Goodreads
New Uses for Old Boyfriends (Black Dog Bay, #2)
- Author: Beth Kendrick
- Published: January 1, 2015
- Genres: Chick Lit, Romance, Fiction, Adult
- Read more on Goodreads
Cure for the Common Breakup (Black Dog Bay, #1)
- Author: Beth Kendrick
- Published: May 6, 2014
- Genres: Chick Lit, Romance, Fiction, Contemporary
- Read more on Goodreads
The Unbearable Book Club for Unsinkable Girls
- Author: Julie Schumacher
- Published: May 8, 2012
- Genres: Young Adult, Realistic Fiction, Fiction, Contemporary
- Read more on Goodreads
Final Price (Paul Chang Mystery, #1)
- Author: J. Gregory Smith
- Published: January 1, 2009
- Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Thriller, Mystery Thriller
- Read more on Goodreads
Unspoken Fear
- Author: Hunter Morgan
- Published: May 1, 2006
- Genres: Suspense, Mystery Thriller, Romantic Suspense
- Read more on Goodreads
She'll Never Know (Albany Beach Trilogy #2)
- Author: Hunter Morgan
- Published: August 1, 2004
- Genres: Mystery, Suspense, Thriller, Crime
- Read more on Goodreads
She'll Never Live (Albany Beach Trilogy #3)
- Author: Hunter Morgan
- Published: September 1, 2004
- Genres: Mystery, Mystery Thriller, Suspense
- Read more on Goodreads
Dangerous Dolls of Delaware (American Chillers, #12)
- Author: Johnathan Rand
- Published: January 1, 2003
- Genres: Horror, Middle Grade, Childrens, Mystery
- Read more on Goodreads
As I Lay Frying: A Rehoboth Beach Memoir
- Author: Fay Jacobs
- Published: May 20, 2004
- Genres: LGBT, Nonfiction, Memoir, Humor
- Read more on Goodreads
Smokey O
- Author: Celia Cohen
- Published: March 1, 1994
- Genres: Lesbian, Fiction, Lesbian Romance, Sports
- Read more on Goodreads
Port Mortuary (Kay Scarpetta, #18)
- Author: Patricia Cornwell
- Published: November 30, 2010
- Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime, Thriller
- Read more on Goodreads
One Small Thing (One Thing, #1)
- Author: Piper Vaughn
- Published: May 3, 2012
- Genres: M M Romance, Romance, Contemporary, LGBT
- Read more on Goodreads
All Those Secrets of the World
- Author: Jane Yolen
- Published: January 1, 1991
- Genres: Picture Books, War, Childrens, Family
- Read more on Goodreads
George and Gracie, Just in Time: The Rescue Begins in Delaware
- Author: Cheri Pray Earl
- Published: April 1, 2009
- Genres: Historical Fiction, Childrens
- Read more on Goodreads
The Wolf in Winter (Charlie Parker, #12)
- Author: John Connolly
- Published: October 28, 2014
- Genres: Mystery, Thriller, Fiction, Horror
- Read more on Goodreads
Hope Never Dies (Obama Biden Mysteries, #1)
- Author: Andrew Shaffer
- Published: July 10, 2018
- Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Humor, Politics
- Read more on Goodreads
The Cellist (Gabriel Allon, #21)
- Author: Daniel Silva
- Published: July 13, 2021
- Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Mystery, Espionage
- Read more on Goodreads
No Such Thing (Belonging #1)
- Author: A.M. Arthur
- Published: February 17, 2014
- Genres: M M Romance, Contemporary, Romance, LGBT
- Read more on Goodreads
All This Talk of Love
- Author: Christopher Castellani
- Published: February 5, 2013
- Genres: Fiction, Italy, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction
- Read more on Goodreads
Haunted Delaware: Ghosts and Strange Phenomena of the First State
- Author: Patricia A. Martinelli
- Published: June 1, 2006
- Genres: Paranormal, History, Ghosts, Nonfiction
- Read more on Goodreads
No Good Deeds (Tess Monaghan #9)
- Author: Laura Lippman
- Published: January 1, 2006
- Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Detective, Mystery Thriller
- Read more on Goodreads
Maybe This Time (Belonging #2)
- Author: A.M. Arthur
- Published: May 19, 2014
- Genres: M M Romance, Contemporary, Romance, Abuse
- Read more on Goodreads
The Heights, the Depths, and Everything in Between
- Author: Sally Nemeth
- Published: January 1, 2006
- Genres: Young Adult
- Read more on Goodreads
Stand By You (Belonging, #3)
- Author: A.M. Arthur
- Published: October 20, 2014
- Genres: M M Romance, Contemporary, Romance, Abuse
- Read more on Goodreads
Contents Under Pressure
- Author: Lara Deloza
- Published: April 13, 2004
- Genres: Young Adult, Fiction
- Read more on Goodreads
Canines, Crosshairs And Corpses (Brandywine Investigations, #1)
- Author: Angel Martinez
- Published: May 19, 2013
- Genres: Paranormal, M M Romance, Fantasy, Romance
- Read more on Goodreads
Elle of the Ball (Hoops, #1)
- Author: Elena Delle Donne
- Published: March 13, 2018
- Genres: Sports, Middle Grade, Realistic Fiction, Fiction
- Read more on Goodreads
Author's Choice
- Author: Elizabeth August
- Published: January 1, 1988
- Genres: Romance, Fiction, Contemporary Romance
- Read more on Goodreads
For Frying Out Loud: Rehoboth Beach Diaries
- Author: Fay Jacobs
- Published: November 3, 2010
- Genres: Nonfiction, Essays
- Read more on Goodreads
No Enemy But Time (Brandywine Investigations #2)
- Author: Angel Martinez
- Published: July 20, 2014
- Genres: M M Romance, Fantasy, Paranormal, Romance
- Read more on Goodreads