Locations play an important role in every story, but in British and American contemporary crime fiction, they are often inextricable from the narrative. This work examines the city, the countryside and the wilderness as places ripe with literary significance and symbolism. Using works by authors like Robert Galbraith, Ian Rankin, Denise Mina, Chris Brookmyre, John Knox, Peter Robinson, Linda Barnes, Dana Stabenow, Nevada Barr, Les Roberts, Philip R. Craig, and other, this work offers a fresh assessment of how place and space are employed in contemporary crime fiction. It highlights similarities and differences among the authors' approaches to setting, and how they relate to the history of crime fiction and the general literary representation place. Going beyond mere literary geography, this work engages the sociocultural dimensions of the communities affected by crime. Chapters also analyze the reader's perception, recognition and appreciation of place and community.