Frances Crane

Frances Crane (1890–1981) was an American author and former writer for the New Yorker. She was invited to leave Nazi Germany in the late 1930s after writing a number of unfavorable articles about Hitler. After settling in Taos, New Mexico, Crane introduced private investigator Pat Abbott and his future wife Jean in her first novel, The Turquoise Shop (1941). The Abbotts investigated crimes in a total of twenty-six volumes, each with a color in the title, with settings around the country and globe.