Eight crime novels in which a small town is the perfect incubator

L. Alison Heller is the author of The Neighbor’s Secret, The Never Never Sisters and The Love Wars. In a former life, she was an attorney in New York City. She now lives in Colorado with her family.

At CrimeReads Heller tagged eight "favorite novels in which a small town is the perfect incubator for some truly grisly secrets." One title on the list:

Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke

If you blink, you might miss Lark, Texas, a tiny former plantation in Shelby County. There’s a restaurant at one end of town, a bar on the other, and very little in between—although one of the residents does live in a replica of Monticello.

When two dead bodies—that of a black lawyer from Chicago and a local white woman— are found in town, Ranger Darren Matthews travels to Lark to investigate. Through his outsiders’ eyes, the reader can sense the town secrets and subtext just out of grasp. As the novel unspools, so do they.

Read about another entry on the list.

Bluebird, Bluebird is among Janice Hallett's five gripping mysteries set in small towns and Katie Tallo's top ten crime novels about returning home.

--Marshal Zeringue