Lillian O’Donnell books

Gwenn Ramadge Reading Order

Mici Anhalt Reading Order

Norah Mulcahaney Reading Order

Standalone Novels

Lillian O’Donnell (1926-2005) was an American mystery novelist who spent most of her career writing about women working in and around law enforcement. Her most recognized creation, NYPD Detective Norah Mulcahaney, first appeared in The Phone Calls (1972) and went on to star in seventeen novels over more than two decades. At a time when female characters in police procedurals were rare, Mulcahaney was a working detective who rose through the ranks on her own merits.

Before starting the Mulcahaney series, O’Donnell published several standalone mysteries beginning with Death Schuss in 1963. She later created two additional series characters: Mici Anhalt, a crime victim advocate who appeared in three books in the late 1970s, and Gwenn Ramadge, a Manhattan private investigator featured in four novels in the 1990s. Across all her work, O’Donnell wrote more than thirty novels.

O’Donnell was born in Trieste, Italy, and grew up in New York City. Before becoming a novelist, she worked as an actress and dancer on Broadway. Her background in performance gave her an eye for character detail that carried into her fiction.