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American Association of Law Libraries
2004 Annual Meeting, July 10-14
Boston, Massachusetts

Books Set in Boston

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You're a busy professional, struggling to balance your work and your private life. And on top of that, you still have to pack for your trip to the 2004 AALL meeting. You don't have the time to go back and reread The Scarlet Letter in order to brush up on your knowledge of Boston and the environs. Well, there are always Cliff Notes--but sometimes those are a little thin when it comes to providing rich, descriptive information about settings and backdrops. Fortunately, there's a better alternative. Some of the most vivid and detailed depictions of the Boston area are provided in the "quick reads" crafted by local mystery writers. Slip one into your carry-on and voila--by the time you've landed at Logan Airport, you can be au courant with the local scene.

You may have already seen the recent film Mystic River. Don't overlook the source, the novel written by Dennis Lehane, who in recent years has demonstrated a real talent for illuminating the parts of town that don't usually get covered in the tourist guides. Lehane has shown a real knack for exploring the dark areas of the human psyche, as well.

Perhaps the best known of local mystery writers is Robert B. Parker. Running his own Boston Marathon, Parker has been carefully crafting his popular Spencer series for more than thirty years.

Another classic Boston crime writer was the late George V. Higgins, who knew the turf well, having worked here both as an Assistant U.S. Attorney and in private practice. In novels such as The Friends of Eddie Coyle and Cogan's Trade, Higgins portrays the gritty underside of the Bay State.

Higgins was not the only lawyer in town to turn to crime fiction. Private investigator John Francis Cuddy is the creation of Jeremiah Healy, a former professor at the New England School of Law. Under the pen name "Terry Devane" Healy has also started a series of novels starring attorney Mairead O'Clare as the protagonist.

A relative newcomer on the scene is Linda Barnes whose protagonist, Carlotta Carlyle, is a cab driver who moonlights as a PI. Barnes (and Carlyle) are so deeply immersed in local culture that a recent novel was entitled The Big Dig. (By the way, we've been promised that all that messy construction work will be finished by the time you get to town.) Barnes is also the author of a series featuring Michael Spraggue, an actor/detective.

Perhaps less widely known, but with a strong local following, is William Martin, whose novel Back Bay traces the trail of a lost Boston heirloom (a silver teapot fashioned by Paul Revere) across the centuries. Martin's recently published Harvard Yard follows a similar historical path, this time revolving around the whereabouts of an unknown Shakespearean manuscript. Loaded with local detail, Martin's approach has been described as "Micheneresque".

More recently, The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl has made its mark on the best-seller lists with a tale that combines homicide and some of the leading lights the Harvard intelligentsia of the 19th century. The volume won't offer much help in the way of locating trendy local eateries, but may help give you a perspective on our past here.

Of course, fictional crimes of the 1800s aren't limited to Cambridge. Over on the other side of the Charles River, Cynthia Peale has written a series of mysteries set among normally genteel inhabitants of Beacon Hill. Her characters are long gone, but you can still visit Louisbourg Square and tread the same cobblestone streets that they did.