Frances Brody Explained

Frances McNeil, also writing as Frances Brody, is an English novelist and playwright, and has written extensively for radio.^[1]

Early life

McNeil was born in Leeds, West Yorkshire, where she now lives. She studied at Ruskin College, Oxford and has a degree in English literature and History from University of York.^[2]

Writing

As Frances Brody she has written a series of 1920s crime novels featuring Kate Shackleton.^{[3] [4] [5]} The sixth in the series, An Avid Reader, is set in the Leeds Library, the oldest surviving subscription library of its type in the UK. After nine books in the series Brody wrote a short story prequel, Kate Shackleton's First Case, in which the story begins in a Harrogate teashop.^[6] The twelfth book in the series (excluding "first case") was Death and the Brewery Queen, published in 2020, and the thirteenth, A Mansion for Murder, in 2022. Each book in the series is set in a specific location in Yorkshire. A Woman Unknown was shortlisted for the 2016 Simon & Schuster Mary Higgins Clark Award, the criteria for which include: "the protagonist is a nice young woman whose life is suddenly invaded".^{[7] [8]}

In 2021 Brody published A Murder Inside, the first in the Brackerly Prison Mysteries series set in a 1960s women's prison in Yorkshire.^{[9] [10]}

She wrote three novels under her own name, which were republished in 2016 under the name Frances Brody. Sisters on Bread Street is partly based on the story of her mother, who lived on Bread Street in Leeds as a child; it was published in a limited edition just after her mother's hundredth birthday, published in an expanded edition as Somewhere Behind the Morning, and republished in 2016 under its original title. Sixpence in her Shoe relates to the Leeds Children's Holiday Camp Association based at Silverdale, Lancashire, about which she has also written a factual history, Now I am a Swimmer (the title being a quote from a child's letter home). Sisters of Fortune is the tale of two girls of different financial backgrounds growing up in Leeds, and was republished as Halfpenny Dreams.

Her plays include Tressell, about Robert Tressell, author of The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists.^[11]

An archive of her literary papers is held by the University of Leeds.^[12]

Selected publications

Writing as Frances McNeil

• Sisters on Bread Street (Limited edition,^[13] 2003, Pavan Press, ; published as Somewhere Behind the Morning 2006, Orion Books, ; republished January 2016 as Sisters on Bread Street, a Frances Brody book, Piatkus,)
• Sixpence in her Shoe (2007, Orion Books, ; republished April 2016 as a Frances Brody book, Piatkus,)
• Sisters of Fortune (2007, Severn House, ; republished July 2016 as Halfpenny Dreams, a Frances Brody book, Piatkus,)
• Now I am a Swimmer (2004, Pavan Press,) (Non-fiction account of the Leeds Children's Holiday Camp Association)

Writing as Frances Brody – the Kate Shackleton books

• Dying in the Wool (2009, Piatkus,) Set in the fictional village of Bridgestead, based on Cottingley^[14]
• A Medal for Murder (2010, Piatkus,) Set in Harrogate^[15]
• Murder in the Afternoon (2011, Piatkus,) Set in the fictional quarry village of Great Applewick in the Yorkshire Dales^[16]
• A Woman Unknown (2012, Piatkus,) Set in Leeds
• Murder on a Summer's Day (2013, Piatkus,) Set at Bolton Abbey
• Death of an Avid Reader (2014, Piatkus,) Set at the Leeds Library
• A Death in the Dales (2015, Piatkus,) Set in the Yorkshire Dales around Langcliffe
• Death at the Seaside (2016, Piatkus,) Set in Whitby
• Death in the Stars (2017, Piatkus,) Set at Giggleswick School at the time of the Solar eclipse of June 29, 1927
• Kate Shackleton's First Case (2018, ebook, Little, Brown,) Set in Harrogate
• A Snapshot of Murder (2018, Piatkus,) Includes the short story Kate Shackleton's First Case; set at Ponden Hall
  • • The Body on the Train (2019, Piatkus,) Set in the Rhubarb Triangle featuring the early-morning train to King's Cross Death and the Brewery Queen (2020, Piatkus,), published in United States as Murder is in the Air (2020, Crooked Lane,) Set in Masham, home to Theakston Brewery and Black Sheep Brewery A Mansion for Murder (2022, Piatkus,) Set at Milner Field (now demolished) near Saltaire

Writing as Frances Brody – the Brackerley Prison Mysteries

• A Murder Inside (2021, Piatkus,)
• Six Motives for Murder (9 May 2024, Piatkus,)^[17]

External links

• As Frances McNeil
• As Frances Brody

Notes and References

1. Web site: Frances McNeil Radio Plays. Diversity. 1 October 2014. 21 June 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140621120429/http://www.suttonelms.org.uk/frances-mcneil.html. live.
2. Web site: Frances McNeil, writer . www.francesmcneil.co.uk . 4 April 2020 . 9 January 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200109134059/http://www.francesmcneil.co.uk/ . live .
3. News: Evans. David. Murder on a Summer's Day (review). 1 October 2014. The Independent. 3 November 2013.
4. News: Robshaw. Brandon. A Woman Unknown (review). 1 October 2014. The Independent. 14 April 2013.
5. News: Murder in the Afternoon: A Kate Shackleton Mystery (review). 1 October 2014. Publishers Weekly. 16 December 2013. 6 October 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20141006070417/http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-250-03702-2. live.
6. Web site: Kate Shackleton's First Case By Frances Brody . Little, Brown . 19 August 2018 . 19 August 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180819160355/https://www.littlebrown.co.uk/books/detail.page?isbn=9780349421155 . live .
7. Web site: 2016 Nominees and Winners . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20161105001852/http://www.theedgars.com/nominees.html . 5 November 2016 . Edgar Awards. 23 December 2022.
8. Web site: Edgar Award Category Information . Mystery Writers of America . 23 December 2022 . en.
9. Web site: A Murder Inside: the first in a new series of Brackerley Prison mysteries by Frances Brody . frances-brody.com . 30 September 2021.
10. Web site: A Murder Inside (publisher's website) . Little, Brown . 30 September 2021 . 27 April 2021.
11. Book: Tressell : a one man play based on the life and times of Robert Treswell author of 'The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists'. Worldcat catalogue record. 828184818.
12. Web site: Frances Brody Archive . explore.library.leeds.ac.uk . University of Leeds Library . 30 September 2021.
13. Web site: Sagas. Frances Brody. 11 April 2016. 4 April 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160404003900/http://www.frances-brody.com/sagas/index.html. live.
14. News: Smith . Stephanie . Kate Shackleton Mysteries author Frances Brody launches her new Brackerley Prison novels set in 1960s Yorkshire . 9 January 2023 . Yorkshire Post . 20 October 2021.
15. Web site: Brody . Frances . The Kate Shackleton mysteries: an introduction by Frances Brody . frances-brody.com . 9 January 2023.
16. Web site: Murder In The Afternoon: (Kate Shackleton Mysteries) by Frances Brody . www.thebookbag.co.uk . 9 January 2023.
17. Web site: Six Motives for Murder . Piatkus . 10 May 2024 . 8 May 2023.