Ella Dubose, a 70-something Southern lady, has been a Charlotte resident for almost a half a century, but she left some part of her heart in her hometown of Charleston, South Carolina.  When her younger children start to pester her about her her driving and her health (they thinks she’s getting senile), Ella takes off for a small inn at Myrtle Beach.  There she reflects on her early life in South Carolina, especially her relationship with the man who might be the father of her eldest son.  She summons that son to join her at the inn.  Will she have the courage to tell him about her early life, or will the prospect of a romance with another guest at the inn turn her mind to happier things?

Most of the action in this novel takes place in South Carolina.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

Posted: November 2nd, 2009 under 2000-, 2008, Mecklenburg, Piedmont, Villas, James.
Comments: none

Kenya and Maurice were high school and college sweethearts, but they broke up after she caught him in bed with another woman. Now, nine years later, Maurice is the star player for the Super Bowl-winning Carolina Panthers and Kenya is a successful lawyer in Atlanta. When Maurice’s cheating, gold-digging fiancee leaves him at the altar, he heads to the Bahamas with his brother to escape the media. Coincidentally, Kenya is at the same resort, celebrating her promotion and her upcoming move back to North Carolina. The two reconnect while on vacation, but things are much more uncertain when they return to Charlotte.  It seems that after their respective experiences, Kenya can’t trust Maurice and Maurice is having trouble trusting any woman.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

Posted: June 11th, 2009 under 2000-, 2008, Mecklenburg, Piedmont, Romance/Relationship.
Comments: none

Lawyer Deborah Knott is a modern southern woman, but as the only daughter of a notorious, retired bootlegger, she still has one foot in the traditions of the old south. After one of the local judges is particularly and unnecessarily harsh on one of her partner’s clients, she decides to run for a seat as district judge in Colleton County. The campaign is a hard one, but Deborah is also distracted by her large family and gets tangled up in trying to resolve the 18-year old unsolved murder of a neighbor. The first in the Deborah Knott series of mysteries, Bootlegger’s Daughter also won four of the major mystery awards: the Edgar, Anthony, Agatha, & Macavity Awards.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

Posted: March 16th, 2009 under 1990-1999, 1992, Coastal Plain, Maron, Margaret, Mystery, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Novels in Series.
Comments: none

This is the first novel in a planned series that will follow the life and career of Sheldon Bailey, a criminal defense attorney based in Charlotte.  The friend of the firm in the title is the beautiful Liv Taylor, whose partner was a client of Sheldon’s firm.  Sheldon is attracted to Liv, but the situation becomes complicated when Liv’s roommate disappears and Sheldon finds out that Liv and her partner have been making pornographic movies. Murder, blackmail, and double-dealing figure in the plot of this page-turner.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

Posted: November 13th, 2008 under 2000-, 2008, Mecklenburg, Piedmont, Richter, Frances, Suspense/Thriller.
Comments: none

The rural community of Trent, N.C., a fictional town between Fayetteville and Wilmington, is shaken when a local gay teenager is found murdered after a high school party. Thomas Edgecombe, owner of the town’s weekly newspaper, begins to report on the case and is horrified to learn that his two sons may be suspects. The Edgecombe boys do not help their case when they disappear, running away to Washington, D.C. The novel follows the three Edgecombes as they struggle to understand the crime, its consequences, and each other.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC Library Catalog.

Posted: March 13th, 2008 under 2000-, 2004, Coastal Plain, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Parker, Michael.
Comments: none

Kenan’s acclaimed first novel is the story of an African American family in the fictional town of Tims Creek in rural eastern North Carolina. Horace Cross, the sixteen-year-old protagonist of the book, is haunted by what may be actual demons, while at the same time trying to come to terms with his homosexuality. He seeks advice and comfort from his older cousin James, a schoolteacher and preacher, who fears that other family members will have a hard time understanding. This richly written novel is told in several shifting voices and styles.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC Library Catalog.

Posted: March 13th, 2008 under 1980-1989, 1989, Coastal Plain, Kenan, Randall, Novels Set in Fictional Places.
Comments: none

As Have You Heard opens, Jerry Chiffon is dressed in woman’s clothing and pointing a gun at a well-known conservative North Carolina senator. The story of Chiffon’s life unfolds as several narrators, all residents of the fictional Eastern North Carolina town of Branch Creek, struggle to understand what has happened. Chiffon felt uncomfortable as a gay man in a small, conservative community and left for New York as soon as he could. He has just returned home to recover from the death of a lover when he makes his attempt on the life of the senator. Ferrell is from Black Creek, in Wilson County.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC Library Catalog.

Posted: March 13th, 2008 under 2000-, 2004, Coastal Plain, Ferrell, Anderson, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Wilson.
Comments: 3