CITY · UNITED STATES

Books set in Los Angeles

34.052, -118.244

75 books · 68 authors · 1939–2025

75 books here

Most-set authors

James Ellroy (4) · Jordan Harper (2) · Taylor Jenkins Reid (2) · Raymond Chandler (2) · Michael Connelly (2) · Christopher Isherwood (1)

Genres

literary fiction (22) · mystery & crime (10) · thriller & suspense (10) · fantasy (1) · romance (1) · science fiction (1) · horror (1) · historical fiction (1)

Books set here

Set in Los Angeles (59)

A Violent Masterpiece

Jordan Harper

Hollywood noir: three LA strivers investigate horrific crimes in the entertainment industry underworld

Airframe

Michael Crichton

Aviation industry setting

Alchemy of Secrets

Stephanie Garber

primary setting, Hollywood

Author set novel in LA area; roadhouse diners, donut shops, dive bars

Carrie Soto Is Back

Taylor Jenkins Reid

Los Angeles, base of Argentine-American tennis champion Carrie Soto who comes out of retirement at 37 in 1994 to defend

City of Night

John Rechy

Pershing Square hustler scene

Colored Television

Danzy Senna

mixed-race family, Eastside hills

Daisy Jones and the Six

Taylor Jenkins Reid

1970s Sunset Strip music scene; Daisy grew up in Hollywood Hills

Death du Jour

Kathy Reichs

Bosch murder investigation base

Did You Hear About Kitty Karr?

Crystal Smith Paul

Hollywood, Los Angeles — where light-skinned Black actress Kitty Karr passes as white to build a career in the Golden Ag

Everybody Knows

Jordan Harper

Los Angeles, where black-bag publicist Mae Pruett navigates the Beast — the web of crisis PR firms, lawyers, and securit

K-drama actress returns home

How to End a Love Story

Yulin Kuang

Primary setting: TV writers room where Helen and Grant reconnect

If He Hollers Let Him Go

Chester Himes

wartime shipyard setting

Killer Potential

Hannah Deitch

the Beverly Hills murder scene

L.A. Confidential

James Ellroy

1950s LAPD corruption drama

L.A. Weather

María Amparo Escandón

Alvarado family, climate crisis

Liars

Sarah Manguso

Primary setting: Jane and John settle in LA as John's film career drives repeated relocations

LA art world — Santa Monica beach rescue, Beverly Hills gallery

One of Our Kind

Nicola Yoon

Fictional all-Black utopian suburb inspired by Los Angeles area

Parable of the Sower

Octavia E. Butler

journey origin, near Robledo

Play It As It Lays

Joan Didion

Hollywood glamour and emptiness

attorney protagonist base

Red City

Marie Lu

alternate-history Angel City

Slow Days, Fast Company

Eve Babitz

1970s LA social scene

Snow Crash

Neal Stephenson

balkanized near-future city

where Nelson and Dodge live build family and work at CalArts

The Barbarian Nurseries

Héctor Tobar

multicultural LA narrative

The Big Empty

Robert Crais

detective agency home base

The Big Nowhere

James Ellroy

1950 Red Scare noir setting

The Big Sleep

Raymond Chandler

1930s noir Los Angeles

The Black Dahlia

James Ellroy

1940s LAPD murder investigation

The Black Echo

Michael Connelly

LAPD detective, storm drain tunnels

The Dream Hotel

Laila Lalami

protagonist home and work, primary setting

The Final Girl Support Group

Grady Hendrix

Support group meets here; the final girls' shared trauma plays out across the city, 2010

The Goddess of Warsaw

Lisa Barr

2005 Hollywood — Lena recalls her secret wartime past

The Grifters

Jim Thompson

Roy Dillon con artist HQ

The Influencers

Anna-Marie McLemore

influencer empire setting

The Long Goodbye

Raymond Chandler

1950s noir LA — Marlowe, gimlets, and friendship among strangers

The Proving Ground

Michael Connelly

Lincoln Lawyer case, LA wildfires

The Seventh Veil of Salome

Silvia Moreno-Garcia

1950s Golden Age Hollywood — Mexican actress in biblical epic

The Shards

Bret Easton Ellis

1981 LA — Buckley prep school, Hollywood kids, serial killer

The Wilderness

Angela Flournoy

the friends's LA years

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow

Gabrielle Zevin

Venice Beach game studio base

When the Wolf Comes Home

Nat Cassidy

Jess's diner and apartment

Which Side Are You On

Ryan Lee Wong

Los Angeles where Reed, a Chinese-American Columbia student, returns home to his Korean activist mother after the 2014 P

White Jazz

James Ellroy

Primary setting — 1958 Los Angeles

White Oleander

Janet Fitch

foster care across LA neighborhoods

1970s Hollywood film world

Ask the Dust

John Fante

Depression-era Bunker Hill rooming houses

Interior Chinatown

Charles Yu

Chinatown film set backdrop

The Last Story of Mina Lee

Nancy Jooyoun Kim

Mina's apartment and supermarket job; Margot's search for her mother's past

These Women

Ivy Pochoda

West Adams / South Central LA where the women's lives intersect

Also featuring Los Angeles (16)

A Single Man

Christopher Isherwood

university where George teaches

Black Cake

Charmaine Wilkerson

Southern California where Eleanor Bennett, now elderly, leaves a recording for her adult children Byron and Benny after

Crooks

Lou Berney

MTV-era child storyline

Family Meal

Bryan Washington

Cam's life in LA with Kai before returning to Houston

Homeseeking

Karissa Chen

reunion after six decades

present-day Southern California

Shalimar the Clown

Salman Rushdie

present-day frame narrative

Gorman gang investigation

The Hours

Michael Cunningham

Laura Brown strand, 1949

The Rest of Our Lives

Ben Markovits

road trip destination, son lives here

The Sympathizer

Viet Thanh Nguyen

Vietnamese exile espionage base

The Warmth of Other Suns

Isabel Wilkerson

Destination of Robert Pershing Foster's Great Migration journey from Louisiana

Winter Moon

Dean Koontz

Opening city crime scenes

Shanghai Girls

Lisa See

Immigrant life in LA Chinatown

Notable locations in Los Angeles

South Los Angeles2Bunker Hill, Los Angeles1Chinatown, Los Angeles1Crenshaw1Koreatown, Los Angeles1Los Angeles Chinatown1Los Angeles Chinatown, California1