My thrice weekly walk, referred to commonly as “going around the lake,” takes me down Old College Road, along the Rail Trail to Channel Road, then all the way up Maple Street before I turn right and return home to the corner of Elbow Pond and Old College Roads. 

Neighbors and dogs greet me, as do cyclists and other walkers; I’ve even made friends with Peanut the cat who frequents the cemetery and woods off Ice House Lane. The walk is a wonderful way to pass the time with folks and catch up on the local news, share gardening tips, and lower my blood pressure by patting all the dogs in sight. And what I often find myself thinking is that this little corner of the world is paradise.

Then I began to recall books with memorable towns, even cities, where the characters’ actions and relationships might make the reader think, “Hmm, I could live there!” Louise Erdrich’s St. Paul in The Sentence comes to mind. Certainly, the goings-on in Louise Penny’s fictional Three Pines draw one in, even in the depths of winter. The Perigord town of St. Denis sounds like a delightful place to live, especially with Chief of Police Bruno in charge. In Donna Leon’s Venice novels, one enters the confines of the famous island city, practically tasting the coffee and confections.

MC Beaton’s Sargent Hamish Macbeth and the eccentric residents of Lochdubh make me giggle with delight. Ann Tyler and Laura Lippmann write lovingly of their particular Baltimore neighborhoods. William Kent Krueger extols Northern Minnesota small town virtues in the Cork O’Connor series, as he also describes the trials and joys of the indigenous peoples in that area. There’s Jan Karon’s Mitford series, where the town harbors a wonderful cast in an almost idyllic mountain setting.

Who can forget the Darrowby of James Herriot’s tales of rural veterinary practice, or the town of Maycomb in To Kill a Mockingbird? Alexander McCall Smith’s two series, one set in Botswana and the other in Edinburgh, are notable for several reasons. I actually suspect I could reside in the Scottish city, specifically in Isabel Dalhousie’s welcoming area of Morningside, near Big Lou’s cafe and deli and Matthew’s art gallery. 

But it’s in Gaborone, Botswana that McCall Smith expresses his hopes and dreams for the world through the measured and mighty voice of Mma Ramotswe, owner of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency. I might not want to actually live there, but it assuredly radiates magic for this reader.