From the Page to the Small Screen
Fall means a new school year, changing leaves, and a welcome respite from summer’s heat. For television fanatics, fall also brings a much-anticipated lineup of season premieres. Fortunately, you don’t have to wait until the temperatures drop to revisit your favorite small-screen world -- check out the books that inspired the show (or vice versa) to tide you over until the premiere!
Boardwalk Empire
Boardwalk Empire by Nelson Johnson and Terence Winter.
Providing the inspiration and source material for the HBO series produced by Martin Scorsese, this riveting and wide-reaching history explores the sordid past of Atlantic City, from the city's heyday as a Prohibition-era mecca of lawlessness to its rebirth as a legitimate casino resort in the modern era.
You might also like: The Good Rat by Jimmy Breslin, Underboss by Peter Maas, The Devil Himself by Eric Dezenhall
Bones
Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs
In the year since Temperance Brennan left behind a shaky marriage in North Carolina, work has often preempted her weekend plans to explore Quebec. When a female corpse is discovered meticulously dismembered and stashed in trash bags, Tempe detects an alarming pattern -- and she plunges into a harrowing search for a killer. The first in the series that inspired FOX's Bones.
You might also like: The other books in Reichs' Temperance Brennan series, The House at Sea's End by Elly Griffiths, Anil's Ghost by Michael Ondaatje, One Grave Less by Beverly Connor
Castle
Heat Wave by Richard Castle
This novel is fictitiously attributed to mystery writer Richard Castle, the main character of ABC's Castle. Tough, sexy, professional, Nikki Heat carries a passion for justice as she leads one of New York City's top homicide squads. She's hit with an unexpected challenge when the commissioner assigns superstar magazine journalist Jameson Rook to ride along with her to research an article on New York's Finest.
You might also like: The other books in Castle's Nikki Heat series, One for the Money by Janet Evanovich, Celebrity in Death by J.D. Robb, Deluge by Stuart Kaminsky
Dexter
Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay
This is the book that inspired Showtime's Dexter. Dexter Morgan is a serial killer whose one golden rule makes him immensely likeable: he only kills bad people. His job as a blood splatter expert for the Miami Police Department puts him in the perfect position to identify his victims. But when a series of brutal copycat murders start turning up, Dexter isn't sure whether he should be flattered or frightened.
You might also like: The other books in Lindsay's Dexter series, I am Not Serial Killer by Dan Wells, Blood Dreams by Kay Hooper, Anatomy of Fear by Jonathan Santlofer
Elementary
The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Here, collected in one volume, are all four full-length novels and 56 short stories chronicling the colorful adventures of Sherlock Holmes -- every word Sir Arthur Conan Doyle ever wrote about Baker Street's most famous resident.
You might also like: Mysterious Affair at Styles: a Hercule Poirot Novel Mystery by Agatha Christie, Ten Days' Wonder by Ellery Queen, A Study in Sherlock: Stories Inspired by the Holmes Canon edited by Laurie R. King and Leslie S. Klinger
Gossip Girl: A Novel by Cecily Von Ziegesar
When the beautiful Serena van der Woodsen returns to Spenford after mysteriously getting kicked out of boarding school, the gossip flies among the privileged students at the Upper East Side private high school.
You might also like: The other books in Von Ziegesar's Gossip Girl or similar series, L.A. Candy by Lauren Conrad, Bright Young Things by Anna Godbersen, The Lying Game by Sara Shepard
Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
Sookie Stackhouse is a cocktail waitress in small-town Louisiana, but she keeps to herself and doesn't date much because of her "disability" to read minds. When she meets Bill, Sookie can't hear a word he's thinking. He's the type of guy she's waited for all of her life, but he has a disability, too -- he's a vampire with a bad reputation. When one of Sookie's coworkers is killed, she fears she's next.
You might also like: The other books in Harris' Sookie Stackhouse series, Darkness Unbound: A Dark Angels Novel by Keri Arthur, Touch the Dark by Karen Chance, Blood Law by Jeannie Holmes
Walking Dead
The Walking Dead, Book 1: A Continuing Story of Survival Horror by Robert Kirkman
This graphic novel, off of which AMC's hit series is based, follows police officer Rick Grimes and a few human survivors as they battle hordes of decomposing zombies.
You might also like: The other books in Kirkman's Walking Dead series, 30 Days of Night by Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith, iZombie by Chris Roberson, The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks by Max Brooks
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