It (Didn't) Happen In New Jersey: Fiction Featuring the Garden State

For those who love to read about their home state! Here is a list of fiction books at SCLS set in New Jersey.

Updated April 21, 2026
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In the unlikely event
Blume, Judy
Paper Book
In her highly anticipated new novel, Judy Blume, the New York Times # 1 best-selling author of Summer Sisters and of young adult classics such as Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, creates a richly textured and moving story of three generations of families, friends and...
Palisades Park
Brennert, Alan.
Paper Book
Bestseller Alan Brennert's spellbinding story about a family of dreamers and their lives within the legendary Palisades Amusement Park Growing up in the 1930s, there is no more magical place than Palisades Amusement Park in New Jersey--especially for seven-year-old Antoinette, who...
Caught
Coben, Harlan
Paper Book
An explosive new stand-alone thriller from the bestselling author of Long Lost/i> and Hold Tight. Wendy is a reporter on a mission: She's chasing down sexual predators and exposing them on national television. Her big break comes when she nails a child advocate. She...
The innocent /
Coben, Harlan,
Ebook
NOW THE NETFLIX ORIGINAL SERIES EL INOCENTE! The bestselling author and creator of the hit Netflix drama The Stranger takes readers on an electrifying ride in this thriller that peeks behind the white picket fences of suburbia--where one mistake can change your life forever....
Varina Palladino's Jersey Italian love story :
DeFino, Terri-Lynne
Paper Book
"Varina Palladino's Jersey Italian Love Story is fun and funny, wonderfully exuberant, and incredibly wise. These endearing characters--their voices and stories-- will be with me for a long time to come. I didn't want to say good-bye." -Jill McCorkle, New York Times bestselling author...
One for the money
Evanovich, Janet
Paper Book
Meet Stephanie Plum, a bounty hunter with attitude. In Stephanie's opinion, toxic waste, rabid drivers, armed schizophrenics, and August heat, humidity, and hydrocarbons are all part of the great adventure of living in Jersey. She's a product of the "burg," a blue-collar pocket of...
Let me be Frank with you /
Ford, Richard,
Paper Book
Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize A brilliant new work that returns Richard Ford to the hallowed territory that sealed his reputation as an American master: the world of Frank Bascombe, and the landscape of his celebrated novels The Sportswriter, the Pulitzer Prize and PEN/Faulkner winning...
Murder at St. Winifred's Academy
Griffo, J. D.
Paper Book
Tranquility, New Jersey's amateur drama troupe is staging a murder mystery at St. Winifred's Academy and Alberta Scaglione couldn't be more thrilled. Even her Italian-American famiglia are getting in on the act. But someone's making deadly revisions to the script... Alberta can hardly...
This is the story of you
Kephart, Beth
Ebook
On Haven, a six-mile long, half-mile-wide stretch of barrier island, Mira Banul and her Year-Rounder friends have proudly risen to every challenge. But then a superstorm defies all predictions and devastates the island, upending all logic and stranding Mira's mother and brother on the mainland....
Within arm's reach :
Napolitano, Ann.
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * The tender and perceptive debut novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Hello Beautiful, about three generations of a large Catholic family jarred into crisis by an unexpected pregnancy "This stunning . . . exquisite, skillfully...
Tracy Flick can't win
Perrotta, Tom
Paper Book
Soon to be a major motion picture starring Reese Witherspoon "Tom Perrotta is...one of the great writers that we have today. I love this book." --Harlan Coben An "engrossing and mordantly funny" (People) novel about ambition, coming-of-age in...
Trouble in Queenstown /
Pitts, Delia C.,
Paper Book
The Shamus Award Winner for Best Hardcover PI Novel A Nero Award Finalist for Best American Mystery With Trouble in Queenstown, Delia Pitts introduces private investigator Vandy Myrick in a powerful mystery that blends grief, class, race, and...
Middle of the night :
Sager, Riley,
Paper Book
THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER In the latest jaw-dropping thriller from New York Times bestselling author Riley Sager, a man must contend with the long-ago disappearance of his childhood best friend--and the dark secrets lurking just beyond the safe confines...
Wish you were gone
Scott, Kieran
Paper Book
Perfect for fans of Liane Moriarty and Lisa Jewell, this "captivating thriller full of twists and surprises" (Megan Miranda, New York Times bestselling author)--about what happens when the death of a husband and father isn't the tragedy everyone believes--is perfect for fans...
Midnight on Beacon Street :
Verona, Emily Ruth,
Audiobook
Dog day afternoon /
Rosenfelt, David.
Paper Book
Paterson, New Jersey's favorite reluctant lawyer Andy Carpenter returns in Dog Day Afternoon, the next mystery in this fan favorite series from National Bestselling Author David Rosenfelt. Retired lawyer Andy Carpenter has run the Tara Foundation--the dog rescue...
Open and shut
Rosenfelt, David.
Paper Book
Edgar-award nominated author David Rosenfelt's hilarious hero, Andy Carpenter, takes on a high-profile murder case, with his favorite golden retriever, Tara, by his side--now with a new cover look. Whether dueling with new forensics or the local old boys' network, irreverent...
Unsheltered :
Kingsolver, Barbara
Paper Book
New York Times Bestseller * Named one of the Best Books of the Year by NPR, O: The Oprah Magazine, San Francisco Chronicle, Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek "Kingsolver brilliantly captures both the price of profound change and how it can pave the way not only for future...
Cape May :
Cheek, Chip
Paper Book
"Inside this mesmerizing tale of sexual desire and discovery, naive newlyweds Henry and Effie are honeymooning in Cape May, N.J., in 1957, tentatively navigating intimacy. Then they meet Clara and Max, hard-partying lovers who dazzle the innocent pair until they've lost more than their...
Fly by night
O'Connor, Tara,
Paper Book
In this enviromental thriller graphic novel with a supernatural twist, Dee must find out what happened to her missing twin. An amazing mystery filled with strange creatures, high school drama, and family, this darkly illustrated book shows us that monsters are all around us. ...
The shore :
Runde, Katie,
Ebook
A mother and her two daughters spend a summer grappling with heartbreak, young love, and the weight of secrets in this "deeply felt family saga" (Entertainment Weekly) hailed as "one of the best beach reads of all time" (Today). Brian and Margot Dunne live year...
The night shift /
Finlay, Alex,
Paper Book
From the author of the breakout thriller Every Last Fear, comes Alex Finlay''s electrifying next novel The Night Shift, about a pair of small-town murders fifteen years apart--and the ties that bind them. One of the Best or Most Anticipated Books of 2022:...
Varina Palladino's Jersey Italian love story : a novel
DeFino, Terri-Lynne
Paper Book
"Varina Palladino's Jersey Italian Love Story is fun and funny, wonderfully exuberant, and incredibly wise. These endearing characters--their voices and stories-- will be with me for a long time to come. I didn't want to say good-bye." -Jill McCorkle, New York Times bestselling author...
Hidden pictures
Rekulak, Jason
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER · OPTIONED FOR NETFLIX BY A PRODUCER OF THE BATMAN GOODREADS CHOICE AWARD WINNER "I loved it." --Stephen King From Edgar Award-finalist Jason Rekulak comes a wildly inventive spin on the...
Dogged pursuit
Rosenfelt, David
Paper Book
In Dogged Pursuit, David Rosenfelt takes readers back to the start of this beloved series as Andy Carpenter begins his career as a defense attorney in Paterson, New Jersey. Andy Carpenter has spent the three years since graduating law school working as a prosecutor in...

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