List of fiction set in Chicago

Last updated

This is a list of fiction set in or near the city of Chicago.

Contents

Novels

AuthorTitleYearComments
Achy Obejas Memory Mambo1996
Adam Langer Crossing California2004
Adam LangerThe Washington Story2005
Adam Selzer Just Kill Me2016
Aden Polydoros The City Beautiful
Aleksandar Hemon Nowhere Man 2002 ISBN   0-375-72702-7
Andy Van Slyke and Rob Rains The Curse: Cubs Win! Cubs Win! Or Do They? 2010
Arthur Hailey Airport 1968
Audrey Niffenegger The Time Traveler's Wife 2003 ISBN   0-15-602943-X
Bayo Ojikutu 47th Street Black2003 ISBN   0-7394-3326-1
Blue Balliett Chasing Vermeer 2004
Blue Balliett The Wright 3 2006
Bob HartleyFollowing Tommy ISBN   978-0983104186
Bob HartleyNorth and Central ISBN   978-0986092282
Brandy Colbert The Revolution of Birdie Randolph 2019
Brandy ColbertPointe2014
Brian J.P. Doyle Chicago ISBN   978-1-25006-199-7
Carolyn Keene The Case of the Rising Stars 198987th volume in the Nancy Drew mystery series
Charles Blackstone The Week You Weren't Here2005
Chloe Neill Chicagoland Vampires2009 - 2017
Chris Ware Building Stories 2012
Chris Ware Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth 2000
Daniel Pinkwater The Education of Robert Nifkin 1998Recognizably Chicago, even if never explicitly stated.
Daniel PinkwaterThe Snarkout Boys and The Avocado of Death1982Recognizably Chicago, even if never explicitly stated.
Daniel PinkwaterThe Snarkout Boys and the Baconburg Horror1984Recognizably Chicago, even if never explicitly stated.
Don De Grazia American Skin1998
Doug CummingsDeader by the Lake
Doug CummingsEvery Secret Crime
Ed Wagemann"The Panty Thief of Bridgeport"
Edna Ferber So Big 1924
Elliot Perlman The Street Sweeper2012
Eoin Colfer Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code 2003
Frank Norris The Pit: A Chicago Story 1903
Fredric Brown The Fabulous Clipjoint1947
Graham Masterton Headlines [1] 1986
Halle Butler The New Me 2019 ISBN   978-1474612296
Harry Stephen Keeler The Riddle of the Traveling Skull1934 ISBN   1-932416-26-9
James Patterson and David Ellis The Black Book (Patterson and Ellis novel) 2017 ISBN   978-1-4555-4267-3
James T. Farrell Studs Lonigan trilogy1932 - 1935In 1998, the Modern Library ranked the Studs Lonigan trilogy 29th on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.
Jami Attenberg The Middlesteins [2] 2012
Jean Toomer Cane 1923
Jennette Lee Mr. Achilles 1912
Jerry Ahern The Survivalist Series 1981 - 2019The early books of the series feature Chicago frequently as the Soviets build their HQ in Chicago, with Varakov setting up his HQ in the Museum of Natural History.
Jim Butcher The Dresden Files series2000–present
Joe Meno Hairstyles of the Damned [3] 2004
John Green An Abundance of Katherines 2006
John Grisham The Litigators 2011(a #1 New York Times Best Seller in 2011)
John M. Ford The Last Hot Time2000 ISBN   0-312-87578-9
John Malcolm Mortal Ruin ISBN   0-684-18958-5
Joseph G. Peterson Beautiful Piece2009
Joshua Ferris Then We Came to the End 2007 ISBN   978-0-316-01638-4
Kathy Reichs 206 Bones 2009
Leonard Pitts, Jr. Grant Park2015
Marcus Sakey The Blade Itself 2007
Matthew Rettenmund Boy Culture 1995
Meyer Levin Compulsion 1924Inspired by the real-life Leopold and Loeb trial
Miami Mitch (Glazer) The Blues Brothers 1980
Mord McGheeMurder Red Ink2014 ISBN   978-1501041174
Nella Larsen Passing 1929 ISBN   0-14-243727-1
Nella Larsen Quicksand 1928 ISBN   0-14-118127-3
Nelson Algren The Man With the Golden Arm 1949 ISBN   1-58322-008-9
Paul KruegerLast Call at the Nightshade Lounge ISBN   978-1594747595
Peter Cheyney Dark Hero 1946
Philip Roth Letting Go 1962
Richard Peck Fair Weather2001
Richard Powers Generosity: An Enhancement 2009
Richard Wright Native Son 1940#20 on Modern Library's 100 Best Novels
Robert Goldsborough A Death in Pilsen2007
Robert GoldsboroughA President in Peril2009 ISBN   978-1-59080-616-6
Robert GoldsboroughShadow of the Bomb2006
Robert GoldsboroughTerror at the Fair2011 ISBN   978-1-59080-672-2
Robert GoldsboroughThree Strikes You're Dead2005
Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson Illuminatus! 1975
Robert Wright Campbell Jimmy Flannery mystery series
Sandra Cisneros The House on Mango Street 1984 ISBN   0-679-43335-X
Sara Paretsky V.I. Warshawski thrillers featuring private eye V. I. Warshawski, most recently 2020: Overboard
Saul Bellow Dangling Man [4] 1944
Saul Bellow Humboldt's Gift 1975
Saul Bellow Ravelstein [5] 2000
Saul Bellow The Adventures of Augie March 1953 ISBN   0-14-018941-6
Saul Bellow The Actual 1997
Scott Spencer Endless Love1979
Shawn Shiflett "Hey Liberal"
Sherwood Anderson Windy McPherson's Son 1916
Somerset Maugham The Razor's Edge 1944 ISBN   1-4000-3420-5
Stuart Dybek The Coast of Chicago1990 ISBN   0-312-42425-6
Stuart DybekChildhood and Other Neighborhoods1980
Stuart Dybek I Sailed with Magellan 2003
Terrance L. Smith The Thief Who Came to Dinner
Theodore Dreiser Sister Carrie 1900 ISBN   0-451-52760-7, on Modern Library's 100 Best Novels
Theodore Dreiser The Titan 1914
Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins Apollyon 1998
Upton Sinclair The Jungle 1906 ISBN   1-884365-30-2 [6]
Veronica Roth Divergent 2011Set in post-apocalyptic Chicago - #1 on the Children's Paperback list in 2012
Veronica Roth Insurgent 2012
Veronica Roth Allegiant 2013
Ward Just An Unfinished Season2004
Willa Cather The Song of the Lark 1915

Short stories

Plays and musicals

Films

Although not set in the city's limits, the John Hughes directed films Sixteen Candles , The Breakfast Club , Pretty in Pink (1986) (#1 film in U.S.), and Weird Science take place in the fictional town of Shermer, Illinois, which is based on Northbrook, Illinois.

In The Matrix (1999, directed by the Wachowskis from Chicago), the subway sets were based on the CTA. One of the trains is clearly a Brown Line train, which in reality, barring construction, never goes underground.

Chicago destroyed on film

Music videos

Television shows

Reality TV

Video games

This is a list of video games in which a major part of the action takes place in the city. This list does not count sports games or flight simulators, save for Pilotwings 64 and Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X.

List of games which feature a fictional city closely based on Chicago

Comics, manga, and cartoons

Miniseries, specials or individual episodes

See also

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