Created by Lillian O’Donnell
(1926-2005)
GWENN RAMADGE is a private detective working for Hart Security and Investigations who teams up with handsome (of course) homicide detective Lew Sackler to investigate an apparent serial murderer, whose victims include two recent brides in A Wreath for the Bride (1990). Gwenn and Lew must have hit it off, because they showed up a few years later in a sequel, although when Wreath was first published, O’Donnell was quoted as saying it was a one-off.
In fact, that one-off seems to have sprouted a series, joining O’Donnell’s other feisty female series detectives, Lieutenant Norah Macaulhay, one of the first series to feature a female police officer and for whom the author is probably best well known, and New York social worker/private eye Mici Anhalt.
O’Donnell is an interesting case — a writer just far enough ahead of the curve that she’s barely remembered today, a true pioneer who deserves more credit than she gets, washed away in the tsunami of female eyes of the eighties. Her books are mostly, if not totally out of print, and few, if any, have been released as ebooks.
UNDER OATH
- “Lillian O’Donnell proves once again that she can write about real life and real people better than almost anyone in this genre.”
— Mostly Murder
NOVELS
- A Wreath for the Bride (1990)Â |Â Buy this book
- Used to Kill (1993)Â |Â Buy this book
- The Raggedy Man (1995)Â |Â Buy this book
- The Goddess Affair (1997)Â |Â Buy this book
