Lillian O’Donnell Books In Order

Publication Order of Norah Mulcahaney Books

Publication Order of Gwenn Ramadge Books

Publication Order of Mici Anhalt Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Lillian O’Donnell was a renowned Italian-American author, who was well known for writing mystery, suspense, and thriller books. She had written several novel series in her career and was particularly famous for writing the Gwenn Ramage and Nora Mulcahaney series. Towards the end of her writing career, author Lillian had started another mystery series called Mici Anhalt, however, she was able to contribute only 3 books to this series before her death. Lillian achieved a lot of fame as a crime novelist and was popular for being among the first ones to introduce a lead character in the form of a lady police officer in a novel series. Author Lillian was born on March 15, 1926 in Trieste, Italy. Her death occurred on April 02, 2005. While growing up, Lillian spent most of her time in New York. She completed her graduation from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, located in New York. Subsequently, she started her initial career in the field of theater. She used to perform on television and stage as an actress. Lillian was even the first lady stage manager in the Broadway. She worked for an organization called the Schubert Organization and carried out her duties as a stage manager and director for the organization’s stock packages of summer until the year 1954. In the same year, author Lillian met her husband named J. Leonard O’Donnell and got married to him. After a few years of her marriage, Lillian began showing interest in writing. Starting from the year 1960, she wrote and released 10 standalone books. Her books varied from being fairly stock mysteries of murder to being psychological suspense novels. Only one of them was a novel of police procedural and was called The Face of Crime.

Author Lillian attempted to write her debut Nora Mulcahaney book in 1972. It was called The Phone Calls and was published later in 1972. Apart from the main protagonist of Nora Mulcahaney, the novel also included several characters from Lillian’s previous books. The series featuring Nora Mulcahaney in the lead lasted for a total of 17 books and finally came to an end in 1998. Every novel of this series revolved around one major crime as well as the concerns of Nora Mulcahaney about her own life. Very often, her professional and personal lives used to get intertwined, forcing her to find ways to maintain the balance between them. While developing this series, author Lillian got the idea of writing an interesting story featuring a different central character named Mici Anhalt. Lillian described Mici Anhalt as an investigator working for the Board of Crime Victims Compensation. Eventually, Lillian developed three books in 1977, 1979, & 1980 with Mici Anhalt as the main lead, and published them as a separate series. From the beginning of the 1990s, author Lillian started following other authors in writing stories centered around female private detectives. Ultimately, she came up with the character of Gwen Ramadge. Lillian has depicted Gwen as a genteel lady, who takes up the role of a private investigator in order to earn some extra money for paying her bills. Lillian was able to write 4 books with Gwen Rammadge as the chief character. One of the books of author Lillian, No Business Being A Cop, was adapted into a television show known as Prime Target. It featured the actors Joseph Bologna, David Stout, and Angie Dickinson in the lead roles. After her death, author Lillian was inferred in the Maple Grove Cemetery.

The Gwen Ramadge series written by author Lillian O’Donnell is comprised of a total of 4 books, which were released between the years 1990 and 1996. All the books of this series describe the primary character as Gwen Ramadge, who is a private investigator living in New York City, New York. An initial book of this series is entitled ‘Used to Kill’. This book was released by the Putnam Publishing Group in the year 1993. Author Lillian has set this book’s story in the New York City and has mentioned the primary characters as Emma Trent, Kitty Genovese, and Gwen Ramadge. At the start of the book’s story, it is shown that Emma Trent entered into marriage multiple times in her life, but all her husbands ended up dead. It turns out that her husbands had developed the habit of dying or someone was murdering them. The people in the town begin to suspect that Emma Trent is the killer of all her partners. And when the murder of Emma Trent’s latest spouse happens, she approaches Gwen Ramadge for help. After going through all the details of the case, Gwen comes to the conclusion that Emma is not the murderer. She sets herself out to prove that Emma is not the culprit, in spite of the mounting evidence against her. The case consists of some tantalizing loose ends, including a self-centered stepson, some suspicious business deals, and numerous women connected to the victim. As Gwen Ramadge continues to investigate, she learns about the brutal killing of Kitty Genovese that had taken place in her own enclave around 30 years ago. Gwen tries to find out how the two murders are connected and also establish the innocence of Emma Trent.

Another thrilling novel written in the mystery series is called ‘The Goddess Affair’. This novel was released by the Putnam Adult publication in 1996. The important characters of the book are described as Diana, Gwen Ramadge, Minerva, Juno, etc. At the beginning of the story of the book, it is depicted that the sisters Diana, Minerva, and Juno are the owners of a dressmaking firm called Goddess Designs. It used to be very successful once, but now this firm is about to become bankrupt. Because of the miserable situation of their business, the sisters are in a state of despair. To add to their misery, Minerva learns that she is suffering from cancer and does not have much time left. The sisters decide to put all their troubles aside and enjoy whatever time they have with Minerva. They hire a luxurious cruise named Dante Alighieri and go on a tour of the Caribbean islands. Gwen Ramadge also comes on board the cruise in relation to an investigation about a jewelry theft. Minerva and Gwen meet each other on board and form an instant friendship. But, before the bonding could grow stronger, Gwen learns that Minerva has been murdered. Gwen wonders why would someone kill a person, who is already dying every day and is expected to breathe her last in a few months? Her investigation enables her to learn the chilling details about the personal life of Minerva and that she was surrounded by people filled with skewed loyalties, greed, and selfishness.