Small Town NC

Island Murders  by Wanda Canada
Figure Eight Island seems an unlikely place for a crime wave, but dead bodies are showing up all over the island. The first suspect is Carroll Davenport, a local developer who has had a few too many friends and relatives who died violent deaths. But Carroll is soon cleared and decides to pursue the case on her own. The sequel to this book is Cape Fear Murders.

Farewell, I’m Bound to Leave You  by Fred Chappell
This story is rich with the music of the Southern mountains and the stories of their people. Jess Kirkman's grandmother is dying and Jess remembers the tales she and his mother have passed down to him – a chorus of women's voices that sing and share and celebrate the common song of life. Also try Look Back All the Green Valley.

Moon Women  by Pamela Duncan
Ruth Ann's life is turned upside down when she takes in her elderly mother, her pregnant 19-year-old daughter and her ex-husband, in a story of three generations of women separated by a long hidden family secret. Also try Plant Life.

Raney  by Clyde Edgerton
This charming vignette follows the early days of the marriage of Raney, an innocent Southern Baptist, and Charles, who is considerably more liberal and sophisticated than Raney. The two must make many accommodations to one another and regularly consult a marriage counselor. Also try Lunch at the Piccadilly.

Friendship Cake  by Lynne Hinton
Five women, working together to create a church cookbook, share their passions, loves and losses, including pastor Charlotte Stewart, who is suffering a crisis in faith; widow Margaret, the town confidante; and Jessie, the only African-American in an all-white church. The next book in the Hope Springs series is Garden of Faith.

At Home in Mitford  by Jan Karon
The first in a series of novels, this heartwarming book introduces readers to a small, charming North Carolina town and its equally charming denizens. Filled with the mysteries and miracles of everyday life and rich, provincial humor, At Home in Mitford will have readers clamoring for more. The next book in the Mitford series is A Light in the Window.

The Bridge  by Doug Marlette
Pick Cantrell is a successful newspaper cartoonist whose career has hit the skids. Fired from his job in New York, he returns with his wife and son to Eno, North Carolina, where he confronts the ghosts of his past in the form of the family matriarch and his boyhood nemesis, Mama Lucy.

July 7th  by Jill McCorkle
An unsolved murder at the Quik Pik propels us into 24 hours of rich comedy and fast action in the North Carolina town of Marshboro. Two memorable presences are Granner Weeks, a white widow, and Fannie McNair, a black housekeeper. They know that people learn to live by living with each other – in each other's ways and in each other's hearts. Also try The Cheerleader.

The Ladies of Covington Send Their Love  by Joan Medlicott
Grace, Amelia and Hannah decide that the last thing they want to do is live out their lives in a group home, and so, to the dismay of their children, they pool their resources and move to Covington, North Carolina, and new lives. The next book in the Ladies of Covington series is The Gardens of Covington.

Ruin Creek  by David Payne
In North Carolina in 1954, sweethearts May Tilley and Jimmy Madden, who wed when May gets pregnant, cope with the hardships of parenthood and medical school, as they find life changing them in unexpected and divisive ways. Also try Early from the Dance.

A Short History of A Small Place  by T.R. Pearson
Miss Myra Angelique Pettigrew, an eccentric spinster and former belle of Neely, North Carolina, reappears in public after mysterious years of seclusion, accompanied by her pet monkey, Mr. Britches.

Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind  by Ann B. Ross
Recently widowed and newly wealthy, Miss Julia is visited one day by Hazel Marie, who claims that her nine-year-old son is the child of Julia's late husband, and when Julia is left to care for the child, she reveals the scandal that precipitated her husband's death. The next book in the Miss Julia series is Miss Julia Takes Over.

Change Baby  by June Spence
Avie Goss is a young woman who returns to the Southern home she abandoned years before to untangle a web of family relationships and astonishing secrets that reveal who she is and who she was, and to find her place within an unexpected ancestral legacy.

Styles by Maggie Sweet  by Judith M. Stacy
All Maggie Sweet has ever wanted is a job styling hair. But does she have one? No! Her husband won't hear of it – and now he's spent all their vacation savings on side-by-side cemetery plots. Maggie decides she'd better do some living before it's too late – especially with her twin daughters nearly raised, her 20th high school reunion approaching, and her long-lost high school sweetheart moving back to town. Also try Betty Sweet Tells All.

The Piano Teacher  by Lynn York
The resident organist and piano teacher in the small Southern town of Swan's Knob, Miss Wilma is delighted by the return of her prodigal daughter Sarah with her young granddaughter Starling, until Sarah's absentee husband, Harper, shows up, a murder shakes the peaceful community, and enigmatic stranger – and prime suspect – Jonah Branch arrives.