Home - FRANCES MCNAMARA

Available December 8 and 15!!!

Death at the Chicago Trust In February 1930, Emily Cabot is a widow who finds her funds have been lost in the Wall Street Crash. After she witnesses the suicide of a banker, she’s nearly killed in a gangland style shootout. Her police mentor has retired, her friend at City Hall is demoted. She can’t believe the way Chicago has dissolved into chaos. Her own family is threatened by the clash of the Secret Six vigilantes and the Outfit gangsters. In the penultimate book of the series, Emily meets Eliot Ness and Frank Nitti when she fights to protect the innocent and ensure some justice in a lawless city. Dec. 8

Murder at St. Hilaire Newly retired Boston Police officer Lucy O'Donnell invites Meilan Lin to join her on a vacation to the Caribbean Island of St. Hilaire. When a young man is found dead in the hot tub, Lucy has to use her skills as a homicide detective to keep Meilan from arrest. Was it a mistake to invite Meilan? Lucy has to question the wisdom of what she thought was a good deed when her new friend is implicated in the murder of the Chinese businessman. Is the crime rooted in the Chinese Cultural Revolution in the past, or in the future of the island of St. Hilaire? Dec. 15

Frances McNamara

Frances McNamara grew up in Boston, where her father served as Police Commissioner for ten years. She has degrees from Mount Holyoke and Simmons Colleges, and retired from the University of Chicago. She now divides her time between Boston and Cape Cod.

Author of The Emily Cabot Mysteries about a social activist in Chicago in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Frances is a member of Sisters in Crime New England and active in MWA New England. Death at the Chicago Trust book 10 of the series, was released in December 2025.

A second series Nutshell Murder Mystery series featuring "Mother of Forensic Science" Frances Glessner Lee is published by Level Best Books. The first in the series Molasses Murder in a Nutshell was released in 2023. Book 2 Three-Decker Murder in a Nutshell was released Jan. 9, 2024. Book 3 Joy Street Jail Murder in a Nutshell was released in January 2025.

A new Lucy O'Donnell series begins with Murder at St. Hilaire published December 2025. It features a retired Boston police officer and a Chinese grandmother. In book 1 a trip to a Caribbean island resort is marred by the death of a Chinese businessman and the arrest of Lucy's friend Meilan.