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 Secretary of Sisters in Crime New England and active in MWA New England. Death in a Time of Spanish Flu was released in 2022.

A second series Nutshell Murder Mysteries 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.