This is a list of fiction set in or near the city of Chicago.
Novels +AuthorTitleYearCommentsAchy ObejasMemory Mambo1996Adam LangerCrossing California2004Adam LangerThe Washington Story2005Adam SelzerJust Kill Me2016Aden PolydorosThe City BeautifulAleksandar HemonNowhere Man2002Andy Van Slyke and Rob RainsThe Curse: Cubs Win! Cubs Win! Or Do They?2010Arthur HaileyAirport1968Audrey NiffeneggerThe Time Traveler's Wife2003Bayo Ojikutu47th Street Black2003Blue BalliettChasing Vermeer2004Blue BalliettThe Wright 32006Bob HartleyFollowing TommyBob HartleyNorth and CentralBrandy ColbertThe Revolution of Birdie Randolph2019Brandy ColbertPointe2014Brian J.P. DoyleChicagoCarolyn KeeneThe Case of the Rising Stars198987th volume in the Nancy Drew mystery seriesCharles BlackstoneThe Week You Weren't Here2005Chloe NeillChicagoland Vampires2009 - 2017Chris WareBuilding Stories2012Chris WareJimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth2000Daniel PinkwaterThe Education of Robert Nifkin1998Recognizably 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 GraziaAmerican Skin1998Doug CummingsDeader by the LakeDoug CummingsEvery Secret CrimeEd WagemannThe Panty Thief of BridgeportEdna FerberSo Big1924Elliot PerlmanThe Street Sweeper2012Eoin ColferArtemis Fowl: The Eternity Code2003Erika SánchezI Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter2017National Book Award FinalistFrank NorrisThe Pit: A Chicago Story1903Set in the wheat speculation trading pits at the Chicago Board of Trade BuildingFredric BrownThe Fabulous Clipjoint1947Graham MastertonHeadlines1986Halle ButlerThe New Me2019Harry Stephen KeelerThe Riddle of the Traveling Skull1934James Patterson and David EllisThe Black Book2017James T. FarrellStuds 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 AttenbergThe Middlesteins2012Jean ToomerCane1923Jennette LeeMr. Achilles1912Jerry AhernThe Survivalist Series1981 - 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 ButcherThe Dresden Files series2000–presentJoe MenoHairstyles of the Damned2004John GreenAn Abundance of Katherines2006John GrishamThe Litigators 2011(a #1 New York Times Best Seller in 2011)John M. FordThe Last Hot Time2000John MalcolmMortal RuinJoseph G. PetersonBeautiful Piece2009Joshua FerrisThen We Came to the End 2007Kathy Reichs206 Bones2009Kevin GenColdren's Prison2022Leonard Pitts, Jr.Grant Park2015Marcus SakeyThe Blade Itself2007Matthew RettenmundBoy Culture1995Meyer LevinCompulsion 1924Inspired by the real-life Leopold and Loeb trialMiami Mitch (Glazer)The Blues Brothers1980Mia P. ManansalaTita Rosie's Kitchen Mystery series2021–presentMord McGheeMurder Red Ink2014Nella LarsenPassing1929Nella LarsenQuicksand 1928Nelson AlgrenThe Man With the Golden Arm1949Paul KruegerLast Call at the Nightshade LoungePeter CheyneyDark Hero1946Philip RothLetting Go1962Richard PeckFair Weather2001Richard PowersGenerosity: An Enhancement2009Richard WrightNative Son1940#20 on Modern Library's 100 Best NovelsRobert GoldsboroughA Death in Pilsen2007Robert GoldsboroughA President in Peril 2009Robert GoldsboroughShadow of the Bomb2006Robert GoldsboroughTerror at the Fair 2011Robert GoldsboroughThree Strikes You're Dead2005Robert Shea and Robert Anton WilsonIlluminatus!1975Robert Wright CampbellJimmy Flannery mystery seriesSandra CisnerosThe House on Mango Street1984Sara ParetskyV.I. Warshawskithrillers featuring private eye V. I. Warshawski, most recently 2020: OverboardSaul BellowDangling ManCoetzee, J.M. (May 27, 2004). "Bellow's Gift", New York Review of Books. Retrieved February 5, 2015.1944Saul BellowHumboldt's Gift1975Saul BellowRavelstein2000Saul BellowThe Adventures of Augie March1953Saul BellowThe Actual1997Scott SpencerEndless Love1979Shawn ShiflettHey, Liberal!Sherwood AndersonWindy McPherson's Son1916Somerset MaughamThe Razor's Edge1944Stuart DybekThe Coast of Chicago1990Stuart DybekChildhood and Other Neighborhoods1980Stuart DybekI Sailed with Magellan2003Terrance L. SmithThe Thief Who Came to DinnerTheodore DreiserSister Carrie1900, on Modern Library's 100 Best NovelsTheodore DreiserThe Titan1914Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. JenkinsApollyon1998Tracy Clark Echo2025Third book in Detective Harriet Foster series. Upton SinclairThe Jungle1906Veronica RothDivergent 2011Set in post-apocalyptic Chicago - #1 on the Children's Paperback list in 2012Veronica RothInsurgent2012Veronica RothAllegiant2013Ward JustAn Unfinished Season2004Willa CatherThe Song of the Lark1915
Short stories Chicago Invaded by Hordes of Prehistoric Monsters Dealing Death and Destruction, an anonymous 9000 word short story published by the Chicago Tribune and other newspapers as an April Fools prank in 1906. "Deadly City," March, 1953 issue of If magazine under the pseudonym Ivar Jorgensen (later made into the motion picture Target Earth; the story is about an alien invasion and evacuation of Chicago) "About Boston" by Ward Just. pp. 12–39 in Legal Fictions edited by Jay Wishingrad, 1992, reprinted from 21 Selected Stories by Just (1990). The story contrasts Boston and Chicago. "Big Boy," pp. 97–99 in Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris begins "It was Easter Sunday in Chicago....", 2000 Chicago Stories: 40 Dramatic Fictions by Michael Czyzniejewski, Jacob S Knabb and Rob Funderburk, 2012 The Coast of Chicago: Stories by Stuart Dybek, 2004 Chicago Style Novella by R. Felini, 2013 "The Box of Robbers" a fairy tale by Lyman Frank Baum, reprinted in American Fairy Tales by Lyman Frank Baum, English Classical Literature, KAPO, 2015. Original, 1901. .
Plays and musicals American Buffalo Be Like Water Bleacher Bums Chicago - musical, nominated for ten Tony Awards in 1976 Chicago - play Clybourne Park Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up? The Front Page Glengarry Glen Ross Happy End In the Jungle of Cities Ma Rainey's Black Bottom Mean Girls - musical, nominated for 12 Tony Awards in 2018 Proof A Raisin in the Sun - nominated for four Tony Awards in 1960 The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui Sexual Perversity in Chicago Show Boat Superior Donuts
Films About Last Night (1986) Above the Law (1988) The Accountant (2016) - partly in Chicago (box office #1 film in the U.S.) Adventures in Babysitting (1987) The Adventures of Lucky Pierre (1961) Against All Hope (1982) Air (2023) Al Capone (1959) (mob film) Ali (2001) Allah Tantou (1989) American Gun (2005) American Reel (1999) Angel Eyes (2001) Anything's Possible (1999) April Fools (2007) Archive (2020) August Rush (2007) The Babe (1992) Baby on Board (2009) Baby's Day Out (1994) Backdraft (1991) (box office #1 film in the U.S.) Bad Boys (1983) Barbershop (2002) (box office #1 film in the U.S.) Barbershop 2: Back in Business (2004) (#1 film in U.S.) Barbershop: The Next Cut (2016) Batman (1989) The Batman (2022) Batman Begins (2005) Batman: Gotham Knight (2008) Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) Beats (2019) Beginning of the End (1957) – set in downstate Illinois and Chicago Betrayed (1988) The Big Brawl (1980) Big Shots (1987) Blankman (1994) Blind (1994) Blink (1994) The Blues Brothers (1980) Blues Brothers 2000 (1998) The Boss (2016) (#1 film in U.S.) Brannigan (1975) The Break-Up (2006) (#1 in the U.S.) The Breakfast Club (1985) Breed of Men (1919) Bridesmaids (2011) (partly in Chicago) Bridge (1988) The Brute (1920) Bugsy Malone (1976) (partly in Chicago) (mob film) Butterfly on a Wheel (2007) Call Northside 777 (1948) Candyman (1992) - based on a book originally set in Liverpool Candyman (2021), sequel to the original, (box office #1 film in the U.S.) Capone (1975) (mob film) Carrie (1952) Casino (1995) - scenes labeled as "Back Home" are in Chicago (mob film) Category 6: Day of Destruction (2004) - partly in Chicago (CBS mini series) Chain Reaction (1996) Chicago (1927) Chicago (2002) (Academy Award for Best Picture) Chicago Cab (1997) Chicago Deadline (1949) (film noir) Chicago Overcoat (2009) (mob film) Child's Play (1988) (#1 in U.S.) Child's Play 2 (1990) (#1 in U.S.) Chi-Raq (2015) Christmas...Again?! (2021) City That Never Sleeps (1953) (film noir) Class (1983) Code of Silence (1985) Colombiana (2011) The Company (2003) Continental Divide (1981) Cooley High (1975) Curly Sue (1991) Damien: Omen II (1978) (#1 film in the U.S.) Danger Lights (1930) (partly in Chicago) The Dark Knight (2008) (#1 film in the U.S.) The Dark Knight Rises (2012) Death of a President (2006) Death Wish (2018) Dhoom 3 (2013) (Hindi film) The Dilemma (2011) Divergent (2014) (box office #1 film in the U.S.) The Divergent Series: Insurgent (2015) (#1 in the U.S.) Derailed (2005) Dick Tracy (1990) Dragonfly (2002) The Dumb Girl of Portici (1916) Eagle Eye (2008) (#1 film in U.S.) Eight Men Out (1988) The Express: The Ernie Davis Story (2009) Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986) Flatliners (1990) The Flash (2023) The Fugitive (1993) (#1 film in the U.S.) The Fury (1978) Girls Just Want to Have Fun (1985) Go Fish (1994) The Great Ziegfeld (1936) The Grudge 2 (2006) (#1 film in U.S.) The Grudge 3 (2009) Guilty as Sin (1993) Hardball (2001) (#1 film in U.S.) Harry and Tonto (1974) Heaven is a Playground (1991) Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986) - partly in Chicago Hero (1992) High Fidelity (2000) - based on a book originally set in London His New Job (1915) Home Alone (1990) (set in Chicago suburb Winnetka; #1 film in the U.S.) Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992) (partly in Chicago) (#1 film in U.S.) Home Alone 3 (1997) The Homesteader (1919) Hoodlum (1997) Hope Floats (1998) - partly in Chicago The Hunter (1980) - partly in Chicago I Love Trouble (1994) I, Robot (2004) (#1 in U.S.) I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With (2007) In the Depth of Our Hearts (1920) It's the Rage (1999) Judgment Night (1993) Jupiter Ascending (2015) directed by the Wachowskis Just Visiting (2001) Justice League (2021) King of the Rodeo (1929) Kissing A Fool (1998) Kong: Skull Island (2017) (#1 in U.S.) The Lake House (2006) A League of Their Own (1992) (#1 in the U.S.) Light It Up (1999) Little Fockers (2010) (#1 in the U.S.) Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977) Love and Action in Chicago (1999) Love Jones (1997) Lucas (1986) Man of Steel (2013) The Man with the Golden Arm (1955) Mean Girls (2004) (#1 film in U.S.) - set in Evanston Medium Cool (1969) Meet the Parents (2000) (#1 in the U.S.) - partly set in Chicago Mercury Rising (1998) Message in a Bottle - partly set in Chicago Michael (1996) - partly in Chicago (#1 film in U.S.) Mickey One (1965) Midnight Run (1988) - partly in Chicago (mob film) Miracle on 34th Street (1994) - partly in Chicago Mission Impossible (1996) Mo' Money (1992) The Monkey Hustle (1976) Music Box (1989) My Best Friend's Wedding (1997) My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002) My Bodyguard (1980) National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989) (#1 film in U.S.) National Lampoon's European Vacation (1985) - starts in Chicago National Lampoon's Vacation (1983) - partly in Chicago (#1 film in U.S.) Natural Born Killers (1994) - partly in Chicago The Negotiator (1998) Never Been Kissed (1999) Next of Kin (1989) - set in Chicago and Kentucky (mob film) A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon (1988) Nothing in Common (1986) - partly in Chicago Office Christmas Party (2016) On the Line (2001) Only the Lonely (1991) Opportunity Knocks (1990) Ordinary People (1980) (Academy Award for Best Picture) The Package (1989) Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987) Poltergeist III (1988) Prelude to a Kiss (1992) Primal Fear (1996) Prime Cut (1972) – set in Chicago and in Kansas City, Kansas The Princess Bride (1987) (Modern Scenes set in Evanston, Illinois)