Libby Fischer Hellmann

Biography

Libby Fischer Hellmann left a career in broadcast news in Washington, DC and moved to Chicago 35 years ago, where she, naturally, began to write gritty crime fiction. Twelve novels and twenty short stories later, she claims they’ll take her out of the Windy City feet first. She has been nominated for many awards in the mystery and crime writing community* and has even won a few.

Her most recent release, War, Spies & Bobby Sox: Stories about WW2 At Home will be released March 1, 2017. Her novels include the now five-volume Ellie Foreman series, which she describes as a cross between “Desperate Housewives” and “24;” the hard-boiled 4-volume Georgia Davis PI series, and three stand-alone historical thrillers that Libby calls her “Revolution Trilogy.” Her short stories have been published in a dozen anthologies, the Saturday Evening Post, and Ed Gorman’s “25 Criminally Good Short Stories” collection. In 2005 Libby was the national president of Sisters In Crime, a 3500 member organization dedicated to the advancement of female crime fiction authors. She also hosts a monthly radio show called “Second Sunday Crime” on the Authors on the Air internet network. More at http://libbyhellmann.com

* She has been a finalist twice for the Anthony, three times for Foreword Magazine’s Book of the Year, the Agatha, the Shamus, the Daphne, and has won the Lovey multiple times.

Where to buy in print

Books

Virtually Yummy
Price: Free! Words: 13,710. Language: English. Published: May 12, 2020. Categories: Nonfiction » Cooking, Food, Wine, Spirits » American / General, Nonfiction » Cooking, Food, Wine, Spirits » General cookbooks
The recipes in this book come from different sources: some of them are family recipes, some were garnered from our travels around the world, and others—inspired by our research, which enables us to write about the adventures of our characters and their culinary feats. But no matter where these recipes come from, we find them not only delicious but also inspiring. We hope you will too.
Nobody's Child
Price: $5.99 USD. Words: 89,100. Language: English. Published: February 4, 2017. Categories: Fiction » Mystery & detective » Hard-Boiled, Fiction » Thriller & suspense » Crime thriller
A bloodstained note left for PI Georgia Davis reveals the shocking existence of a half-sister she never knew about. But her sister, Savannah, is in big trouble. Determined to track her down, Georgia finds herself heading deep into the secretive and dangerous underworld of Chicago’s illegal sex trafficking business to find her.
Jump Cut
Price: $5.99 USD. Words: 70,840. Language: English. Published: March 1, 2016. Categories: Fiction » Thriller & suspense » Spies & espionage, Fiction » Mystery & detective » International crime
Hired to produce a video of aviation giant Delcroft, Ellie is dismayed when VP Charlotte Hollander cancels the project. Ellie thinks Hollander was spooked by shots of a specific man in the footage. But when Ellie arranges to meet the man, he is killed by a subway train. Flash drives, encryption, Chinese spies, and hackers ensue until Ellie realizes she's in way over her head. And in mortal danger.
Capital Partners: A Short Story
Price: $0.99 USD. Words: 4,060. Language: English. Published: May 21, 2015. Categories: Screenplays » Mystery, Fiction » Women's fiction » General
The story is about two women at a posh ski resort who discover their husbands are caught in a Ponzi scheme. They take matters into their own hands in order to survive. It was originally published in the Writes of Spring Anthology, Nodin Press, 2012, edited by Pat Frovarp and Gary Shulze. "A fine story..." Publishers Weekly
War Secrets: A Short Story
Price: $0.99 USD. Words: 5,350. Language: English. Published: May 15, 2015. Categories: Fiction » Historical » General, Fiction » Mystery & detective » Historical
This short story takes place in the 1930s in Leipzig, Germany. The Nazis are in power, but the war has not yet begun. A young physics student and an older German scientist must work together to find a way to split the atom. But both men have secrets that could put the other in mortal danger. Originally published in the 2013 MWA Anthology THE MYSTERY BOX, edited by Brad Meltzer.
La Habana Perdida
Price: $6.99 USD. Words: 112,610. Language: Spanish. Published: April 23, 2015. Categories: Fiction » Thriller & suspense » Action & suspense, Fiction » Mystery & detective » Historical
Un thriller en gran parte ambientado en Cuba, que se extiende por tres generaciones de la misma familia de Mafia.
The Murder of Katie Boyle
Price: $0.99 USD. Words: 5,870. Language: English. Published: December 4, 2012. Categories: Fiction » Mystery & detective » Women Sleuths, Fiction » Mystery & detective » General
(4.00 from 1 review)
I'm often asked how Ellie Foreman and Georgia Davis, my two series protagonists originally met. That's explained in this short story, written and published in 2009. It takes place prior to AN EYE FOR MURDER when Georgia was still a cop. The story was published in a limited numbered edition. It can also be found in NICE GIRL DOES NOIR, in print, audio and electronic formats.
Inocenia Fåcil: Una Novela De Suspenso
Price: $6.99 USD. Words: 103,620. Language: Spanish. Published: October 24, 2012. Categories: Fiction » Mystery & detective » Women Sleuths, Fiction » Thriller & suspense » Crime thriller
Cuando encuentran a la bella e inteligente Sara Long apaleada a muerte, es facil inculpar al hombre con el bate. Pero Georgia Davis, expolicia y recientemente convertida en investigadora privada, es contratada para indagar el incidente por peticion de la hermana del acusado, y lo que ella encuentra hace alusion a una respuesta diferente y mucho mas sombria.
Flight
Price: $1.99 USD. Words: 4,360. Language: English. Published: June 28, 2012. Categories: Fiction » Thriller & suspense » Action & suspense, Fiction » Women's fiction » General
A woman with a secret picks out a mark in an airport garage. But the mark she picks out has a secret too. Both of them are running for their lives. Will they make it? Read FLIGHT to find out. This short story thriller was "born" at the "You Done It" workshop at the 2012 Romantic Times Convention. Written by Libby Hellmann, Michael Dymmoch, and Laura Caldwell.
A Shot to Die For
Price: $5.99 USD. Words: 88,420. Language: English. Published: June 28, 2012. Categories: Fiction » Mystery & detective » Women Sleuths, Fiction » Thriller & suspense » Crime thriller
Returning from a video shoot at the Lodge, a newly renovated, upscale resort, Ellie befriends a woman who claims her ride abandoned her at a highway rest stop. But Ellie's kindness is brutally cut short when a pickup truck pulls up, the rear window opens, and the woman is shot dead. When the second shooting occurs, Ellie is drawn into the secrets and danger of a prominent family in Lake Geneva, WI
An Image of Death
Price: $5.99 USD. Words: 87,680. Language: English. Published: June 28, 2012. Categories: Fiction » Mystery & detective » Women Sleuths, Fiction » Thriller & suspense » Crime thriller
(4.00 from 2 reviews)
Who knew that a career in video documentaries could lead to crime? A mysterious video arrives at Ellie Foreman's door. When she screens it she sees the murder of a young woman. Who was she? The cops shunt her aside, but a little digging reveals reveals dark happenings in Chicago, sex trafficking, money laundering, and the deadly price of dealing in diamonds during the collapse of the Soviet Union.
A Picture of Guilt
Price: $5.99 USD. Words: 87,350. Language: English. Published: June 28, 2012. Categories: Fiction » Mystery & detective » Women Sleuths, Fiction » Thriller & suspense » Crime thriller
The big news story in Chicago is the murder trial of Johnny Santoro, a dock worker whose girlfriend has been killed. Most Chicagoans are betting on a quick guilty verdict, but Ellie Foreman finds evidence that could save Santoro from a lifetime behind bars. Almost immediately, a suspicious vehicle follows her, the Chicago mob shows up, and the FBI wants to question her. A real thriller ending.
An Eye For Murder
Price: $5.99 USD. Words: 87,780. Language: English. Published: June 28, 2012. Categories: Fiction » Mystery & detective » Women Sleuths, Fiction » Thriller & suspense » Crime thriller
August, 1944, Prague is where the story begins with the casual exchange of information. Decades later, documentary filmmaker Ellie Foreman gets a letter from Ben Sinclair prompted by the success of her show "Celebrate Chicago. When she tries to find him, she is told he suddenly died. When the woman with whom Sinclair suddenly dies also, Ellie knows something is wrong.
The Day Miriam Hirsch Disappeared
Price: $1.09 USD. Words: 4,880. Language: English. Published: May 12, 2012. Categories: Fiction » Mystery & detective » Short Stories, Fiction » Mystery & detective » Historical
(4.00 from 1 review)
In 1938, teenage Jake Foreman spends time in Lawndale, a prosperous Jewish community on Chicago’s near west side where he develops a crush on Miriam Hirsch, an actress in the Yiddish theater. But Miriam only has eyes for Skull, who might or might not be a gangster. This short story became the prequel to the Ellie Foreman Mystery Series, which itself is the prequel to the Georgia Davis PI series.
Toxicity
Price: $5.99 USD. Words: 84,860. Language: English. Published: September 1, 2011. Categories: Fiction » Mystery & detective » Police Procedural, Fiction » Mystery & detective » Hard-Boiled
Ten years ago, PI Georgia Davis was a police officer in a Chicago suburb. When three bodies turn up in quick succession—all of them dumped in waste disposal dumpsters or landfills, the investigations into the murders test the mettle of the police force. They also test Georgia’s relationship with one of the detectives. This dark crime thriller is a prequel to EASY INNOCENCE and DOUBLEBACK.
The Last Page
Price: $2.99 USD. Words: 32,410. Language: English. Published: July 18, 2011. Categories: Fiction » Mystery & detective » Women Sleuths
Barbara Adams, head of the Windbrook Library in suburban Chicago, has died, apparently from a fall down the stairs of the library's basement. But when Julia Fairbanks, her closest friend's daughter pokes around, she finds troubling emails that indicate Barbara was not the victim of a heart attack, but a vicious killer instead. Can Julia find the murderer? Or will she end up on The Last Page too?
Your Sweet Man
Price: $1.09 USD. Words: 6,300. Language: English. Published: June 29, 2011. Categories: Fiction » Mystery & detective » Short Stories, Fiction » Mystery & detective » Hard-Boiled
My story in the CHICAGO BLUES anthology (Bleak House,2007) was way out of my comfort zone, but that’s why I write stories. They allow me to stretch, to experiment with characters, plots, eras, and settings. This story is about a Blues bass player whose ability to love and forgive is tested by events beyond his control. There’s also a historical element:the story occurs in the '50s and'80s.
The Jade Elephant
Price: $1.09 USD. Words: 4,350. Language: English. Published: June 28, 2011. Categories: Fiction » Mystery & detective » Short Stories, Fiction » Mystery & detective » Hard-Boiled
"The Jade Elephant" was originally published in the EXPLETIVE DELETED anthology (Bleak House, 2007(, and then in the NICE GIRL DOES NOIR collection, 2011. It's set in the seamier, sleazier parts of Chinatown where menus are stained, kitsch is king, and even walking down the street after dark is risky. Add in two older criminals seeking redemption during Christmas, and the result was irresistible.
Nice Girl Does Noir
Price: $4.99 USD. Words: 71,590. Language: English. Published: May 20, 2010. Categories: Fiction » Anthologies » Short stories - single author
(5.00 from 1 review)
To read Libby Fischer Hellmann is to love Libby Fischer Hellmann. Her writing is tight, fast, and highly entertaining. But I had no idea Libby was so versatile. The collection of stories -- all previously published -- offer a wide variety of styles, tones, and topics. Funny. Dark. Poignant. Exciting. Surprising. Hardboiled. And, of course, Noir.
Easy Innocence
Price: $5.99 USD. Words: 93,930. Language: English. Published: January 12, 2010. Categories: Fiction » Mystery & detective » General, Fiction » Thriller & suspense » General
When pretty, smart Sara Long is discovered bludgeoned to death, it’s easy to blame the man with the bat. But when Georgia Davis — former cop and newly-minted PI — is hired to look into the incident, she discovers that some teen girls on Chicago’s North Shore have learned just how much their innocence is worth to hot under the collar businessmen.
Doubleback
Price: $5.99 USD. Words: 96,560. Language: English. Published: January 12, 2010. Categories: Fiction » Mystery & detective » General, Fiction » Thriller & suspense » General
Little Molly Messenger is kidnapped on a sunny June morning. Three days later she’s returned unharmed. Then the brakes go out on her mother's car. An accident? Except that her mother may have may have misappropriated three million dollars. Doubleback reunites PI Georgia Davis with video producer Ellie Foreman, who track leads from Chicago to Wisconsin to the Arizona border.

Libby Fischer Hellmann's tag cloud

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