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...
Caught
Coben, Harlan
Paper Book
From the #1 New York Times bestselling master of suspense comes a fast-paced, emotion-packed novel about guilt, grief, and our capacity to forgive 17-year-old Haley McWaid is a good girl, the pride of her suburban New Jersey family, captain of the lacrosse team, headed off to...
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
Ebook
"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
The dynamite blockbusterfrom Janet Evanovichthat started it all--now a major motion picture starring Katherine Heigl as Stephanie Plum! ONE FINE MESS Welcome to Trenton, New Jersey, home to wiseguys, average Joes, and Stephanie Plum, who sports a big...
The glow :
Gaynor, Jessie,
Paper Book
A desperate young publicist tries to save her career by turning the charismatic leader of a grungy retreat center into the hot new self-care brand in this "wryly funny [and] fabulous debut novel" (The New York Times Book Review). "A satire both cutting and careful in...
Our narrow hiding places :
Jansma, Kristopher.
Paper Book
An elderly woman recounts her Dutch family's survival during the final years of Nazi occupation, shedding new light on old secrets that rippled through subsequent generations.  Eighty-year-old Mieke Geborn's life is one of quiet routine. Widowed for many years, she enjoys the view...
Within arm's reach :
Napolitano, Ann.
Audiobook
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
Our little world : a novel
Winn, Karen
Paper Book
July, 1985. It's a normal, sweltering New Jersey summer for soon-to-be seventh grader Bee Kocsis. Her thoughts center only on sunny days spent at Deer Chase Lake, evenings chasing fireflies around her cul-de-sac with the neighborhood kids. But when Max's little sister Sally goes missing at the lake,...
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.
Ebook
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...
I heard that song before
Clark, Mary Higgins.
Paper Book
In a riveting psychological thriller, Mary Higgins Clark takes the reader deep into the mysteries of the human mind, where memories may be the most dangerous things of all. At the center of her novel is Kay Lansing, who has grown up in Englewood, New Jersey, daughter of the landscaper to the...
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...
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. "The night was expected to bring...
Varina Palladino's Jersey Italian love story : a novel
DeFino, Terri-Lynne
Ebook
"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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