Books set in Maryland
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 Maryland 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.
Baltimore Blues (Tess Monaghan #1)
- Author: Laura Lippman
- Published: February 1, 1997
- Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime, Audiobook
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Jacob Have I Loved
- Author: Katherine Paterson
- Published: January 1, 1980
- Genres: Young Adult, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Childrens
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The Accidental Tourist
- Author: Anne Tyler
- Published: August 12, 1985
- Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Literary Fiction, Romance
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Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave
- Author: Frederick Douglass
- Published: January 1, 1845
- Genres: Nonfiction, History, Classics, Biography
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Breathing Lessons
- Author: Anne Tyler
- Published: August 12, 1988
- Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Literary Fiction, Novels
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Digging to America
- Author: Anne Tyler
- Published: May 2, 2006
- Genres: Fiction, Adoption, Contemporary, Novels
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Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant
- Author: Anne Tyler
- Published: March 12, 1982
- Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Literary Fiction, Novels
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The Great Gilly Hopkins
- Author: Katherine Paterson
- Published: March 29, 1978
- Genres: Fiction, Childrens, Middle Grade, Young Adult
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Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets
- Author: David Simon
- Published: June 1, 1991
- Genres: Nonfiction, True Crime, Crime, History
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Chesapeake Blue (Chesapeake Bay Saga, #4)
- Author: Nora Roberts
- Published: November 4, 2002
- Genres: Romance, Contemporary Romance, Fiction, Contemporary
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The Amateur Marriage
- Author: Anne Tyler
- Published: January 6, 2004
- Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Literary Fiction, Historical Fiction
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Charm City (Tess Monaghan #2)
- Author: Laura Lippman
- Published: January 1, 1997
- Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Audiobook, Crime
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The Girl in the Green Raincoat (Tess Monaghan, #11)
- Author: Laura Lippman
- Published: January 11, 2011
- Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Mystery Thriller, Audiobook
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Chesapeake
- Author: James A. Michener
- Published: January 1, 1978
- Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, American History
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Kindred
- Author: Octavia E. Butler
- Published: June 1, 1979
- Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Science Fiction, Fantasy
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Sea Swept (Chesapeake Bay Saga, #1)
- Author: Nora Roberts
- Published: January 1, 1998
- Genres: Romance, Contemporary Romance, Contemporary, Fiction
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Digital Fortress
- Author: Dan Brown
- Published: February 1, 1998
- Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Mystery, Suspense
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Butchers Hill (Tess Monaghan #3)
- Author: Laura Lippman
- Published: January 1, 1998
- Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Audiobook, Mystery Thriller
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The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
- Author: Rebecca Skloot
- Published: February 2, 2010
- Genres: Nonfiction, Science, History, Biography
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The Hearse You Came in On (Hitchcock Sewell Mysteries, #1)
- Author: Tim Cockey
- Published: January 1, 2000
- Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Mystery Thriller, Crime
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The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Sisterhood, #1)
- Author: Ann Brashares
- Published: September 11, 2001
- Genres: Young Adult, Fiction, Chick Lit, Contemporary
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My Bondage and My Freedom
- Author: Frederick Douglass
- Published: January 1, 1855
- Genres: History, Biography, Nonfiction, Classics
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Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer
- Author: James L. Swanson
- Published: February 6, 2006
- Genres: History, Nonfiction, Civil War, True Crime
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The Clock Winder
- Author: Anne Tyler
- Published: January 1, 1972
- Genres: Fiction, Literary Fiction, Contemporary, Womens
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The Sugar House (Tess Monaghan #5)
- Author: Laura Lippman
- Published: January 1, 2000
- Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Mystery Thriller, Audiobook
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B Is for Blue Crab: A Maryland Alphabet
- Author: Shirley C. Menendez
- Published: September 22, 2004
- Genres: Picture Books, Childrens
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In a Strange City (Tess Monaghan, #6)
- Author: Laura Lippman
- Published: January 1, 2001
- Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Detective, Mystery Thriller
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What the Dead Know
- Author: Laura Lippman
- Published: March 13, 2007
- Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Thriller, Mystery Thriller
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Ghetto Medic: A Father in the 'Hood
- Author: Rachel Hennick
- Published: July 1, 2012
- Genres: Nonfiction, Biography
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Defending Baltimore Against Enemy Attack: A Boyhood Year During World War II
- Author: Charles Osgood
- Published: May 12, 2004
- Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction, History, Autobiography
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Blue Smoke
- Author: Nora Roberts
- Published: October 4, 2005
- Genres: Romantic Suspense, Mystery, Romance, Fiction
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Inner Harbor (Chesapeake Bay Saga, #3)
- Author: Nora Roberts
- Published: January 1, 1999
- Genres: Romance, Contemporary Romance, Contemporary, Fiction
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Beautiful Swimmers: Watermen, Crabs and the Chesapeake Bay
- Author: William W. Warner
- Published: February 1, 1976
- Genres: Nonfiction, Nature, Science, History
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Bewitching Hannah
- Author: Leigh Goff
- Published: September 17, 2017
- Genres: Young Adult, Witches, Paranormal, Fantasy
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Chadwick the Crab
- Author: Priscilla Cummings
- Published: May 1, 1986
- Genres: Childrens
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Blindsided
- Author: Priscilla Cummings
- Published: July 8, 2010
- Genres: Young Adult, Realistic Fiction, Contemporary, Disability
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Jarrettsville
- Author: Cornelia Nixon
- Published: September 1, 2009
- Genres: Historical Fiction, Historical, Civil War, Fiction
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Red Kayak
- Author: Priscilla Cummings
- Published: September 23, 2004
- Genres: Young Adult, Realistic Fiction, Mystery, Fiction
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Survival of the Fittest: The Last Hope for the Human Race
- Author: Michael Taylor
- Published: January 1, 2011
- Genres: Horror, Science Fiction, Young Adult
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Life Sentences
- Author: Laura Lippman
- Published: January 1, 2009
- Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Mystery Thriller, Crime
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Song Yet Sung
- Author: James McBride
- Published: February 5, 2008
- Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, African American, Historical
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The Tidewater Tales
- Author: John Barth
- Published: January 1, 1987
- Genres: Fiction, Literature, Short Stories, American
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Homicide: Life on the Streets--the Unofficial Companion
- Author: David P. Kalat
- Published: July 15, 1998
- Genres: Reference, Nonfiction, Crime
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Written in Bone: Buried Lives of Jamestown and Colonial Maryland
- Author: Sally M. Walker
- Published: January 1, 2009
- Genres: Nonfiction, History, Science, Historical
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Baltimore, Vol. 1: The Plague Ships
- Author: Mike Mignola
- Published: June 28, 2011
- Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Horror, Fantasy
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And When She Was Good
- Author: Laura Lippman
- Published: August 1, 2012
- Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Suspense
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The Most Dangerous Thing
- Author: Laura Lippman
- Published: January 1, 2011
- Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Suspense, Thriller
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The Other Wes Moore: The Story Of One Name And Two Fates
- Author: Wes Moore
- Published: April 27, 2010
- Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Biography, School
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The Beginner's Goodbye
- Author: Anne Tyler
- Published: April 3, 2012
- Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Literary Fiction, Adult Fiction
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The Last Place (Tess Monaghan #7)
- Author: Laura Lippman
- Published: October 1, 2002
- Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime, Thriller
- Read more on Goodreads