Frances Crane

Frances Crane (1890-1981) was an American author of mystery novels. Her series is the Pat & Jean Abbott series. Frances graduated from the University of Illinois and did her graduate studies at the University of Chicago. She was an outspoken liberal, who spent time in Nazi Germany, and would mock Hitler’s speeches, and try convincing restaurant staff she was Jewish. Unsurprisingly, she was later expelled from Germany. She returned home as a divorcée, and in need of money, began writing detective fiction.