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.

Frances Crane made her debut as a novelist in 1941 with the novel The Turquoise Shop, beginning her Pat & Jean Abbott series. She wrote 26 in the series, plus four standalone novels. Below is a list of Frances Crane’s books in order of when they were originally released:

Publication Order of Pat and Jean Abbott Mystery Books

The Turquoise Shop (1941)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
The Golden Box (1942)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
The Yellow Violet (1942)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
The Applegreen Cat (1943)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
The Pink Umbrella / The Pink Umbrella Murder (1943)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
The Amethyst Spectacles (1944)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
The Indigo Necklace / The Indigo Necklace Murders (1944)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
The Cinnamon Murder (1946)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
The Shocking Pink Hat (1946)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
Murder on the Purple Water (1947)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
Black Cypress (1948)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
The Flying Red Horse (1949)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
The Daffodil Blonde (1950)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
Murder in Blue Street / Death in the Blue Hour (1951)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
The Polkadot Murder (1951)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
13 White Tulips (1953)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
Murder in Bright Red (1953)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
The Coral Princess Murders (1954)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
Death in Lilac Time (1955)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
Horror on the Ruby X (1956)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
The Ultra-Violet Widow (1956)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
The Buttercup Case (1958)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
The Man in Gray / The Grey Stranger (1958)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
Death-Wish Green (1960)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
The Amber Eyes (1962)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
Body Beneath a Mandarin Tree (1965)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

The Reluctant Sleuth (1961)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
Three Days in Hong Kong (1965)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
A Very Quiet Murder (1966)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
Worse Than a Crime (1968)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price

If You Like Frances Crane Books, You’ll Love…

Frances Crane Synopses: The Turquoise Shop is the first Pat & Jean Abbott Mystery by Frances Crane. The arrival of a wealthy stranger from the East is enough to spark conversation in a small, artistic town in New Mexico. Even though Mona Brandon moved to Santa Maria a few years ago, there are still rumors about her money, her influence, and — when a corpse that may or may not be her husband is found in the nearby desert — her secret and suspicious past.

Jean Holly has a front-row seat to all of this gossip from the counter of her local jewelry and art shop after her relationship with Pat Abbott, the detective who is looking into the alleged murder, turns romantic. They have everything they need to solve the mystery thanks to his deductive reasoning and her local knowledge. But will they be able to put the pieces together and figure out what happened before the killer comes back?

The third installment in the Pat and Jean Abbott series is The Yellow Violet by Frances Crane. It takes place in the early weeks of World War II, when women wore girdles and everyone smoked. When a fellow private detective is murdered in his office, the only clue is a yellow violet, private detective Pat is back home in San Francisco, just hours from marrying Jean Holly. It just so happens that a gorgeous Spanish entertainer who fled the Spanish Civil War and is known for her signature yellow violet is on tour in town with her mother, her manager, and a dachshund named Pancho. When you add in a few Italian fascists (Pat says, “They don’t fight very well, but they know how to spy”), you have enough trouble to stop any wedding.

The Pink Umbrella by Frances Crane is the fifth book in the Pat and Jean Abbott series. Pat Abbott has put his career as a private detective on hold to serve his country in World War II as a marine. Currently, however, he is sneaking in a brief honeymoon in New York with his adored brand-new wife, Jean. However, as a result of the war, many of his old friends are reluctantly returning from Paris, and one of them is currently under suspicion of murder.

Although neither Pat nor Jean is particularly fond of the expatriate community as a whole—Jean has a particular dislike for a divorcée whom Pat appears to admire—Pat believes the accused to be a decent individual and plans to contribute to the investigation into the real perpetrator.

Order of Books » Authors » Order of Frances Crane Books

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