Reading about Missouri

To my mind, the two best Missouri history books are Paul Nagel's "Missouri: a Bicentennial History and T. J. Stiles' "Jesse James: Last Rebel of the Civil War." What do you think?

On another topic, are there any great Missouri novels beyond those by Mark Twain?

For a cozy-ish murder mystery series, I'd say the Torie O'Shea books by Rett MacPherson give a pretty good sense of place for SE Missouri (New Kassel).

Then there's Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn, which "defines" itself as a Bootheel book.

While obviously a lengthy biography, the first section of Truman has a nice look at Missouri-as-frontier in the 1800s, up through Truman's early years. McCullough traces the roots of Truman's family in Missouri during this time and talks about frontier and 'wild west' life.

Fiction: A small town by Shelby Hearon is set in Venice, Missouri.

A favorite book set in Missouri (specifically 1960s small town Missouri) is This is Graceanne's Book by P.L. Whitney. One of my very favorites!!

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn is set there and here are a few more...

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