Books Set in North Carolina
Our journey through the 50 states continues with a stop in North Carolina!
Book Club Pick – North Carolina
Slay Bells Ring by Nancy Robards Thompson
What is Slay Bells Ring about?
It’s one thing to write a mystery, but when your daughter is the suspect — you solve it.
Wedding planner Jenna Bell doesn’t panic when the groom is a no-show to the ceremony – even though he is her former high school sweetheart and this wedding is the small town’s event of the year. However, when he turns up dead and she is falsely accused… well, yeah, now it’s the time to panic.
Jenna’s mother, Maddie, puts her cozy mystery writing skills to use to try to clear her daughter’s name, stepping on by-the-book Chief of Police Jackson Bradley’s toes in the process. No matter how enticing he finds her, he doesn’t want this writer-turned-amateur-sleuth interfering with his murder investigation.
With nearly all of Hemlock, North Carolina, picking sides and the town’s own Gossip Brigade churning out the rumors, Maddie discovers the mystery isn’t very cozy when it hits this close to home.
Nancy Robards Thompson on Literary Escapes Podcast
Want to know more about Nancy and her books? Listen to this conversation on the Literary Escapes Podcast!
More Sweet Reads Set in North Carolina
Enjoy this additional selection of books set in North Carolina, spanning cozy mystery, romance, and historical fiction. Perfect for easy reading, these delightful tales promise happy, hopeful endings.
Which one will you choose for a literary escape to North Carolina?
A Spot of Trouble by Teri Wilson
Genre: Sweet Romance
Violet March and Sam Nash are as different as night and day and have been enemies ever since Violet accused Sam of dognapping her beloved Dalmatian. Sam knows that would never happen—his well-trained fire safety demonstration dog never steps out of line, whereas Violet’s problematic pooch has never met a command she didn’t ignore completely, much like her bubbly owner. So when Sprinkles and Cinder accidentally switch places during the annual police vs. fire department softball tournament, Violet is thrilled by her dog’s sudden perfect behavior, while stubborn-yet-charming Sam is horrified to find that his dog no longer listens.
But when they eventually realize and switch the dogs back, Sam and Violet are shocked to find that not everything is as simple as it seems. And a little puppy love might be just the thing they’ve been missing…
Author Teri Wilson on Literary Escapes Podcast
The Bridesmaid & The Reality Show by Kayla Tirrell and Daphne James Huff
Genre: Sweet Romance
Planning a wedding always comes with family drama. But when it’s on reality TV and all the details are decided by a competition between the bridesmaids and groomsmen? Let the games begin…
Sienna has every intention of winning the perfect day for her sister. The only thing standing in her way is the grumpy best man who’s distracting her in all the wrong ways.
Fox wishes he’d never agreed to be best man for his friend’s ridiculous reality show wedding. He hates being in the spotlight and the bride’s annoying little sister is the worst kind of Hollywood fake. But when the cameras stop rolling, he can’t seem to stay away from her.
Can Fox and Sienna get past the unscripted drama and take a chance on love? Or will one of them end up getting played?
The Summer Hideaway by Jenny Hale
Genre: Women’s Fiction
Alice Emerson and best friend Sasha Miller have made a pact. They’ve decided to swap city living for the beautiful white beaches of the Outer Banks and pour everything they have into launching an ice cream shop in the little house by the sea where Alice spent blissful childhood holidays with her grandfather.
As Alice and Sasha add color to the walls of the beach house and tempt the locals with their delicious recipes, their fresh new life begins to take shape. Swept away by her plans, love is the last thing on Alice’s mind. But she keeps running into mysterious doctor Jack Murphy, and finds herself falling for his golden charm and warm smile. As they laugh through sunshine-filled days and long romantic evenings, Alice tries hard not to think he could be the one for her – Jack is only here for the season, and Alice has had her fair share of heartbreak.
Just when Alice’s summer couldn’t be more perfect, she discovers an old letter tucked away in the beach house. It contains a family secret that turns Alice’s world upside down and threatens the future of the ice cream shop. And then Jack reveals a secret of his own… Will Alice have her dreams shattered and her heart broken, or can she find true happiness this summer?
The Light From You by Ellison Lane
Genre: Historical Fiction
Salerno, Italy, 1943. Rosia Paneterri has never known a world without war, enemies, and hardship amid the throes of Fascist Italy. As the invasion of Salerno beckons outside her rural home, Rosia’s sheltered world is uplifted when she finds injured US Navy Officer, Chester Earleywine. Although their time together is brief, they share a spark of romance. When tragedy strikes, ending what could have been her first love, Rosia’s heart is yet another casualty of war.
Fayetteville, North Carolina, 1948. With World War II in the past, Rosia is settled in her new life in America. Going steady with US Army Specialist, Leland Greene, Rosia finds her life at a crossroads. Rosia embarks on a paper-trail campaign to find the light she is searching for, and a second chance at igniting the fire of her past.
Esme Cahill Fails Spectacularly by Marie Bostwick
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Esme Cahill thinks she has failed spectacularly: fired from her New York City publishing job, divorced from her husband, and possessing little more than a broken-down car and a pile of unfinished manuscripts, she drives home to Asheville at the request of her late grandmother, Adele, who had begged her, just before she died, to return to the place she grew up.
There she discovers the once-charming lakeside retreat run by her family is sliding toward financial ruin, so with the help of her grandfather, George; estranged mother, Robyn; and a travelling chef Dawes (maker of the world’s best grilled cheese sandwich) they set to work. In the attic, Esme unearths a trove of museum-worthy art quilts, sewn by Adele. Piecing together the inspiration behind them, Esme discovers a forgotten chapter in her family history and her grandmother’s untold story, that of a gifted artist who never received her due.
The Brighter the Light by Mary Ellen Taylor
Genre: Historical Fiction
When a shipwreck surfaces, old secrets are sure to follow.
Or so goes the lore in Ivy Neale’s hometown of Nags Head, North Carolina. When Ivy inherits her family’s beachfront cottage upon her grandmother’s death, she knows returning to Nags Head means facing the best friend and the boyfriend who betrayed her years ago.
But then a winter gale uncovers the shipwreck of local legend—and Ivy soon begins to stumble across more skeletons in the closet than just her own. Amid the cottage’s clutter are clues from her grandmother’s past at the enchanting seaside resort her family once owned. One fateful summer in 1950, the arrival of a dazzling singer shook the staff and guests alike—and not everyone made it to fall.
As Ivy contends with broken relationships and a burgeoning romance in the present, the past threatens to sweep her away. But as she uncovers the strength of her grandmother and the women who came before her, she realizes she is like the legendary shipwreck: the sands may shift around her, but she has found her home here by the sea.
Smile Beach Murder by Alicia Bessette
Genre: Cozy Mystery
When Callie is laid off from her reporting job, she returns to her hometown of Cattail Island and lands a gig at the local bookstore—the same one where she found comfort after her mother died.
In fact, the anniversary of her mother’s infamous death is approaching. Years ago, Teri Padget tumbled from the top of the lighthouse. As islanders are once again gossiping about the tragedy, devastating news strikes: the lighthouse has claimed another victim. Eva Meeks, of Meeks Hardware.
The police are calling it suicide, but Callie does not believe Eva jumped any more than she believes her mother did—especially because Callie knows that before her death, Eva had dug up a long-forgotten treasure hunt that could have put a target on Eva’s back.
In Callie’s search for answers, she enlists the help of some beloved books and several new friends, including the handsome local martial arts instructor, Toby Dodge. But when another death rocks Cattail Island, Callie must face her fears alone. As she earns enemies in pursuit of the truth, Callie knows she will either uncover the killer or become a victim herself.
When the Jessamine Grows by Donna Everhart
Genre: Historical Fiction
Talk of impending war is a steady drumbeat throughout North Carolina, though Joetta McBride pays it little heed. She and her husband, Ennis, have built a modest but happy life for themselves, raising two sons, fifteen-year-old Henry, and eleven-year-old Robert, on their small subsistence farm. They do not support the Confederacy’s position on slavery, but Joetta considers her family to be neutral, believing this is simply not their fight.
Her opinion is not favored by many in their community, including Joetta’s own father-in-law, Rudean. A staunch Confederate supporter, he fills his grandsons’ heads with stories about the glory of battle and the Southern cause until one night Henry runs off to join the war. At Joetta’s frantic insistence, Ennis leaves to find their son and bring him home.
But soon weeks pass with no word from father or son and Joetta is battered by the strain of running a farm with so little help. As the country becomes further entangled in the ramifications of war, Joetta finds herself increasingly at odds with those around her – until one act of kindness brings her family to the edge of even greater disaster.
Though shunned and struggling to survive, Joetta remains committed to her principles, and to her belief that her family will survive. But the greatest tests are still to come – for a fractured nation, for Joetta, and for those she loves . . .
By Book or By Crook by Eva Gates
Genre: Cozy Mystery
For ten years Lucy has enjoyed her job poring over rare tomes of literature for the Harvard Library, but she has not enjoyed the demands of her family’s social whorl or her sort-of-engagement to the staid son of her father’s law partner. But when her ten-year relationship implodes, Lucy realizes that the plot of her life is in need of a serious rewrite.
Calling on her aunt Ellen, Lucy hopes that a little fun in the Outer Banks sun—and some confections from her cousin Josie’s bakery—will help clear her head. But her retreat quickly turns into an unexpected opportunity when Aunt Ellen gets her involved in the lighthouse library tucked away on Bodie Island.
Lucy is thrilled to land a librarian job in her favorite place in the world. But when a priceless first edition Jane Austen novel is stolen and the chair of the library board is murdered, Lucy suddenly finds herself ensnared in a real-life mystery—and she’s not so sure there’s going to be a happy ending….
Author Eva Gates (Vicki Delaney) on Literary Escapes Podcast
Live and Let Chai by Bree Baker
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Life hasn’t been so sweet for Everly Swan over the past couple of years, but now she’s back in her seaside hometown of Charm, North Carolina. The proud new owner of Sun, Sand, and Tea—a café right on the beach—Everly thinks that things are finally starting to look up. Until a grouchy customer turns up dead on the boardwalk with a jar of one of her specialty teas lying right next to him! When an autopsy reports poison in his system, things don’t look good for Everly or her tea shop.
As the townspeople of Charm, formerly so welcoming and homey, turn their back on Everly, she fights to dig up clues about who could have had it in for the former town councilman. With the maddeningly handsome Detective Grady Hays discouraging her from uncovering leads and a series of anonymous attacks on Everly and her tea shop, it will take everything she’s got to keep this murder mystery from boiling over.
Summer Rental by Mary Kay Andrews
Genre: Women’s Fiction
Sometimes, when you need a change in your life, the tide just happens to pull you in the right direction…
Ellis, Julia, and Dorie. Best friends since Catholic grade school, they now find themselves, in their mid-thirties, at the crossroads of life and love. Ellis, recently fired from a job she gave everything to, is rudderless and now beginning to question the choices she’s made over the past decade of her life. Julia–whose caustic wit covers up her wounds–has a man who loves her and is offering her the world, but she can’t hide from how deeply insecure she feels about her looks, her brains, her life. And Dorie has just been shockingly betrayed by the man she loved and trusted the most in the world…though this is just the tip of the iceberg of her problems and secrets. A month in North Carolina’s Outer Banks is just what they each of them needs.
Ty Bazemore is their landlord, though he’s hanging on to the rambling old beach house by a thin thread. After an inauspicious first meeting with Ellis, the two find themselves disturbingly attracted to one another, even as Ty is about to lose everything he’s ever cared about.
Maryn Shackleford is a stranger, and a woman on the run. Maryn needs just a few things in life: no questions, a good hiding place, and a new identity. Ellis, Julia, and Dorie can provide what Maryn wants; can they also provide what she needs?
Mary Kay Andrews’ novel is the story of five people questioning everything they ever thought they knew about life. Five people on a journey that will uncover their secrets and point them on the path to forgiveness. Five people who each need a sea change, and one month in a summer rental that might just give it to them.
Books Set in the Outer Banks
Episode 20: Books Set in the Outer Banks
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