# Works of literature by a Brit set in the US (or vice versa) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 1, 2009, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-of-literature-by-a-brit-set-in-the-us-or-vice-versa/508472 "2009-09-01T12:49:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-of-literature-by-a-brit-set-in-the-us-or-vice-versa/508472/1 "2009-09-01T12:49:25Z")
The only one that came to my mind was Moll Flanders, and even then it’s only partially set in Virginia. What works of literature (defined any way you choose) are written by an author fro the UK but take place in the US? And vice versa: what work of literature are written by a Yank but take place in the UK? ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-of-literature-by-a-brit-set-in-the-us-or-vice-versa/508472/2 "2009-09-01T12:57:45Z")
Any number of comic book writers. Warren Ellis, Alan Moore, Grant Morrison have all done so. For a short list: Ellis: Transmetropolitan Moore: Top Ten Morrison: WE3 I’m sure there are more in mainstream literature if I looked. But I just wikied ‘English Writers’ and got intimidated. ---
**Author:** ![Yossarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/9de0a6/32.png) [@Yossarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yossarian)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-of-literature-by-a-brit-set-in-the-us-or-vice-versa/508472/3 "2009-09-01T12:58:20Z")
P.G. Wodehouse has a few of his “Jeeves” stories take place in America. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-of-literature-by-a-brit-set-in-the-us-or-vice-versa/508472/4 "2009-09-01T12:58:44Z")
There are plenty of Sherlock Holmes stories written by Yanks, but set (of course) in the UK, like Nicholas Meyer’s **Seven Per Cent Solution** , **The West End Horror** and **The Canary Trainer**. For that matter, Doyle himself set stories in the US, including the entire second half of the Sherlock Holmes novels **A Study in Scarlet** and **The Valley of Fear**. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-of-literature-by-a-brit-set-in-the-us-or-vice-versa/508472/5 "2009-09-01T13:00:10Z")
Hmm. Would Defoe count? He was British and Robinson Crusoe is certainly set in the Americas. Might be the very first one give its publication date of 1719. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-of-literature-by-a-brit-set-in-the-us-or-vice-versa/508472/6 "2009-09-01T13:03:48Z")
I’m pretty sure that Dick Francis wrote at least one book which was set in America. ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-of-literature-by-a-brit-set-in-the-us-or-vice-versa/508472/7 "2009-09-01T13:03:57Z")
Neil Gaiman was born and raised in the U.K. (though he lives in Minneapolis now), and set both “ **American Gods** ” and “ **Anansi Boys** ” in the U.S. ---
**Author:** ![Dublin11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Dublin11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dublin11)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-of-literature-by-a-brit-set-in-the-us-or-vice-versa/508472/8 "2009-09-01T14:25:27Z")
Ken MClure is a Scottish writer I’ve just discovered. The first of his books I read was called “Past Lives” and the hero is an American neurologist in Kansas. And although he spends most of the book unravelling the mystery in various parts of Europe and Israel, he starts and ends in Kansas. Similarly, another Scot; Val McDermid - or VL McDermid as she is called on her books when they’re published in America - has a heroine who lives in California. She also admittedly spends a lot of her time sleuthing in foreign parts, though. ---
**Author:** ![PrettyVacant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/49beb7/32.png) [@PrettyVacant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PrettyVacant)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-of-literature-by-a-brit-set-in-the-us-or-vice-versa/508472/9 "2009-09-01T14:29:34Z")
Henry James, init. ---
**Author:** ![Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellis_Aponte_Jr)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-of-literature-by-a-brit-set-in-the-us-or-vice-versa/508472/10 "2009-09-01T15:34:31Z")
Evelyn Waugh’s _The Loved One_ takes on Los Angeles effectively & amusingly. And a very good movie was made from it. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-of-literature-by-a-brit-set-in-the-us-or-vice-versa/508472/11 "2009-09-01T15:46:10Z")
Several of George McDonald Fraser’s _Flashman_\* books: _Flash for Freedom!, Flashman and the Indians, Flashman and the Angel of the Lord._ ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-of-literature-by-a-brit-set-in-the-us-or-vice-versa/508472/12 "2009-09-01T15:55:06Z")
John Connolly, an Irishman, sets his entire Charlie Parker series of detective thrillers in the U.S., mostly Maine. R.J. Ellory, whose astounding \*A Quiet Belief in Angels \*will be released in the U.S. any minute now, is from Birmingham, England; it is set in the rural South in the '30s. ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-of-literature-by-a-brit-set-in-the-us-or-vice-versa/508472/13 "2009-09-01T15:57:23Z")
I’ve read a good few books by crime author [John Connolly](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Connolly_(author)). Connolly is Irish. He lives in Dublin but divides his time between there and the United States where all of his novels are set, most of them in Maine. ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-of-literature-by-a-brit-set-in-the-us-or-vice-versa/508472/14 "2009-09-01T15:58:52Z")
Oh, well. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-of-literature-by-a-brit-set-in-the-us-or-vice-versa/508472/15 "2009-09-01T16:02:36Z")
**Chez** , glad to see another “Bird” fan! Don’t you [del]fear[/del] love Louis and Angel? ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-of-literature-by-a-brit-set-in-the-us-or-vice-versa/508472/16 "2009-09-01T16:11:56Z")
Many of John Brunner’s books are set primarily or entirely in the USA, including _Stand on Zanzibar, The Sheep Look Up,_ and _The Shockwave Rider_. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-of-literature-by-a-brit-set-in-the-us-or-vice-versa/508472/17 "2009-09-01T16:36:01Z")
> [@Yossarian](#): > > P.G. Wodehouse has a few of his “Jeeves” stories take place in America. Yes, and although much of his work is very, very English, he spent the latter part of his life as an American citizen. Dickens’ _Martin Chuzzlewit_ has a portion set in America. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-of-literature-by-a-brit-set-in-the-us-or-vice-versa/508472/18 "2009-09-01T16:39:06Z")
John Dickson Carr was an American mystery writer, many of whose characters and settings were British like the classic mysteries he admired. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-of-literature-by-a-brit-set-in-the-us-or-vice-versa/508472/19 "2009-09-01T17:01:04Z")
Ian Fleming’s _Goldfinger, Diamonds are Forever, The Spy Who Loved Me_. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-of-literature-by-a-brit-set-in-the-us-or-vice-versa/508472/20 "2009-09-01T17:20:45Z")
Bernard Cornwall was born in Britain and now lives in the US, and he’s written books set in both Britain and the US, so I don’t know if that counts. Ken Follett’s books _Code to Zero_, _The Third Twin_, _The Hammer of Eden_ and _A Place Called Freedom_ are all set in America. Edward Rutherfurd’s upcoming work _New York_ will be set in America. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-of-literature-by-a-brit-set-in-the-us-or-vice-versa/508472.md?page=2)