Francine Barron Mathews (born May 23, 1963) is an American writer of mystery and spy fiction who also writes historical mysteries under the name Stephanie Barron. She features in ''Great Women Mystery Writers'' (2007).page 161-164, ''Great Women Mystery Writers'', 2nd Ed. by Elizabeth Blakesley Lindsay, 2007, publ. Greenwood Press,

Biography

Francine Stephanie Barron was born in

Binghamton, New York Binghamton () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, and serves as the county seat of Broome County. Surrounded by rolling hills, it lies in the state's Southern Tier region near the Pennsylvania border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the conflue ...

, and grew up in Washington D.C., the youngest of six sisters. She graduated from

Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School is a private Roman Catholic college-preparatory school for girls located in the historic Washington, D.C. neighborhood of Georgetown. Founded in 1799 by the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary (also kno ...

, then earned a degree at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

in European History. While there, she wrote for the university newspaper, which led to later jobs with ''

The Miami Herald The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by the McClatchy Company and headquartered in Doral, Florida, a city in western Miami-Dade County and the Miami metropolitan area, several miles west of Downtown Miami.The San Jose Mercury News''. She pursued an MA at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

in Latin American History, but left to work at the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...

for several years as an intelligence analyst. After the publication of her first book, she started writing full-time, citing

John McPhee John Angus McPhee (born March 8, 1931) is an American writer. He is considered one of the pioneers of creative nonfiction. He is a four-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in the category General Nonfiction, and he won that award on the fourth ...

(who taught her at Princeton) and Elizabeth George as particular influences. She lives in

Denver, Colorado Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

, with her children and husband. Her husband, Mark, is a prominent lawyer in the area. Her eldest son, Sam, also went on to study at Princeton. Her youngest son, Stephen, went on to study at Penn State and is on the fencing team.

Writing

As Francine Mathews, she has written two series: one set in

Nantucket Nantucket () is an island about south from Cape Cod. Together with the small islands of Tuckernuck and Muskeget, it constitutes the Town and County of Nantucket, a combined county/town government that is part of the U.S. state of Massachuse ...

featuring police officer Meredith "Merry" Folger, the latest in a long line of police officers in her family, including her father who is also her boss. Indeed, family and genealogy play an important part of the series. Mathews has stated that with this series she tried to "capture the difficult life in New England today" and the "bitter and embedded economic issues" facing the fishing industry. Her second series are spy thrillers based on her time working with the CIA. As Stephanie Barron (her middle and maiden names), Mathews has written

historical novels Historical fiction is a literary genre in which the plot takes place in a setting related to the past events, but is fictional. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literature, it can also be applied to other ty ...

featuring the English novelist

Jane Austen Jane Austen (; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for her six major novels, which interpret, critique, and comment upon the British landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austen's plots of ...

(1775–1817) as an amateur sleuth. The books are presented as lost diaries merely edited by Barron. Mathews has carried out considerable research into Austen as background to the series, especially using Austen's correspondence as a key source.

Published books

As Francine Mathews

Merry Folger series

# ''Death in the Off Season'' (1994) # ''Death in Rough Water'' (1995) # ''Death in a Mood Indigo'' (1997) # ''Death in a Cold Hard Light'' (1998) # ''Death on Nantucket'' (2017) # ''Death on Tuckernuck'' (2020)

Caroline Carmichael series

# ''The Cut Out'' (2001) # ''Blown'' (2005)

Other novels

# ''The Secret Agent'' (2002) # ''The Alibi Club'' (2006) # ''Jack 1939'' (2012) # ''Too Bad to Die'' (2015)

As Stephanie Barron

Jane Austen series

# ''Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor'' (1996) # ''Jane and the Man of the Cloth'' (1997) # ''Jane and the Wandering Eye'' (1998) # ''Jane and the Genius of the Place'' (1999) # ''Jane and the Stillroom Maid'' (2000) # ''Jane and the Prisoner of Wool House'' (2001) # ''Jane and the Ghosts of Netley'' (2003) # ''Jane and His Lordship's Legacy'' (2005) # ''Jane and the Barque of Frailty'' (2006) # ''Jane and the Madness of Lord Byron'' (2010) # ''Jane and the Canterbury Tale'' (2011) # ''Jane and the Twelve Days of Christmas'' (2014) # ''Jane and the Waterloo Map'' (2016) # ''Jane and the Year Without a Summer'' (2022)

Other novels

* ''A Flaw in the Blood'' (2008) * ''The White Garden'' (2009) *''That Churchill Woman'' (2020)

References

External links

* * (1994–2015)
Stephanie Barron
at LC Authorities, with 14 records (1996–2014) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mathews, Francine 1963 births American mystery novelists American spy fiction writers Journalists from Washington, D.C. Writers from Binghamton, New York People from Golden, Colorado Princeton University alumni Stanford University alumni Miami Herald people Novelists from Colorado Novelists from New York (state) Living people American women novelists Women mystery writers 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists Women historical novelists Women crime writers Journalists from New York (state) American women non-fiction writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers