15 ratings | 13 reviews | avg rating:4.93

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Fran Orenstein

Goodreads Author

Twitter

Hubysmom

Genre

Children's, Young Adult, Mystery

Influences

My mother was a wonderful storyteller

Member Since

March 2011

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/goodreadscomfrannyo

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Fran Orenstein was born in New York. Growing up in Brooklyn and the Bronx, she experienced a fine education in the public schools and the varied culture of New York City. She has a bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education from Brooklyn College, a master’s in counseling psychology from the College of New Jersey, and a doctorate in Child and in Youth Studies from Nova Southeastern University.

She thrives on reading 3-4 novels a week, which she considers an escape from the real world. Her favorites are detective stories, legal mysteries , horror and intrigue. She likes books written by women about women, but also loves heroes like Jack Reacher, Harry Bosch, and JP Beaumont. Among her favorite authors are Dean Koontz for the beauty of his Fran Orenstein was born in New York. Growing up in Brooklyn and the Bronx, she experienced a fine education in the public schools and the varied culture of New York City. She has a bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education from Brooklyn College, a master’s in counseling psychology from the College of New Jersey, and a doctorate in Child and in Youth Studies from Nova Southeastern University.

She thrives on reading 3-4 novels a week, which she considers an escape from the real world. Her favorites are detective stories, legal mysteries , horror and intrigue. She likes books written by women about women, but also loves heroes like Jack Reacher, Harry Bosch, and JP Beaumont. Among her favorite authors are Dean Koontz for the beauty of his poetic metaphors, and Janet Evanovich, whose amazing characters make her laugh.

Fran wrote her first poem at age 8, and submitted her first short story at age 12. After a brief spell as an early childhood teacher, and full-time mother, she was an editor/writer for three national career education magazines, and then spent 22 years working for New Jersey State Government in a variety of positions. These included rehabilitation counselor, manager of women’s programs including writing policy and legislation, developing programs in child care, gender equity, and creator of The NJ Coalition on Women and Disabilities. Prior to retirement, she served as Special Projects and Disability Officer for AmeriCorps. Fran has many years of experience writing and publishing academically and professionally. She has written, articles, newsletters, political speeches, brochures, and has presented at national and international conferences on gender equity and violence prevention.
She considers her children and grandchildren her finest legacy. Fran currently resides in the Tampa Bay Florida with her cats.

Her philosophy is three-fold:
1. There is a solution to every problem using creative and positive thinking.
2. Help others, either by a simple act of kindness, or a volunteer project. It will come back, even though it might not be obvious or immediate.
3. Life is an adventure, live it.
...more

8 posts
Fran Orenstein's Blog

Death in D Minor Release

Three days until the Dec. 1st official release of Death in D Minor from World Castle Publishing. An historical murder/romance, set in the mid to late eighteenth century, where restless spirits roam the halls of the dark mansion on the Delaware River north of Philadelphia and two generations of women try to unlock the mysteries of Hull House.
"Ada took her own sweet time preparing to tell the story Read more of this blog post »

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Published on November 27, 2013 13:12 • Tags: civil-war, death-in-d-minor, delaware-river, eighteenth-century, fran-orenstein, historical-fiction, murder-mystery, pa, paranormal, philadelphia, suffragist-movement, women-musicians

View all 8 posts »

Combine Editions
Fran Orenstein’s books

Average rating: 4.63 · 70 ratings · 37 reviews · 25 distinct works

	Gaia's Gift 4.43 avg rating — 14 ratings — published 2012 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Spice Trader's Daughter 4.88 avg rating — 8 ratings — published 2010 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Fat Girls From Outer Space it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 6 ratings — published 2011 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Wizard of Balalac (Book of Mysteries #1) it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 5 ratings — published 2008 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Calling of the Flute it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 5 ratings — published 2011 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Murder in Duplicate 4.20 avg rating — 5 ratings — published 2013 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Ghost Under Third Base 3.60 avg rating — 5 ratings — published 2007 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Death in d Minor 4.33 avg rating — 3 ratings — published 2013 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Mystery Under Third Base it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 2 ratings — published 2010 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	One Amber Too Many it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 2 ratings — published 2013 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Fran Orenstein…

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
Cozy Mysteries : Title and Author game, Round 4	16049	655	Jan 05, 2019 04:49AM
What's the Name o...: Children / YA rare book shop protagonist finds book about her life, scene where kids jump into sewer pipe to escape	7	27	Apr 12, 2020 04:05AM

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Fran’s Groups

Authors Anonymous — 174 members — last activity Nov 17, 2020 06:50PM
Writing is hard and often lonely work. Even if you're lucky enough to have a 'supporter', they may not be a writer themselves and understand the creat ...more

¡ POETRY ! — 22565 members — last activity Jan 26, 2026 02:43PM
No pretensions: just poetry. Stop by, recommend books, offer up poems (excerpted), tempt us, taunt us, tell us what to read and where to go (to read No pretensions: just poetry. Stop by, recommend books, offer up poems (excerpted), tempt us, taunt us, tell us what to read and where to go (to read it!) Goodreads honors wordsmiths: poets and poetry promoted and prompted here. ~~~ "Poetry is the synthesis of hyacinths and biscuits." -- Carl Sandburg “God has a brown voice, as soft and full as beer.” —Anne Sexton On Clouds – “…what primitive tastes the ancients must have had if their poets were inspired by those absurd, untidy clumps of mist, idiotically jostling one another about…” —Yevgeny Zamyatin “If the poet wants to be a poet, the poet must force the poet to revise. If the poet doesn’t wish to revise, let the poet abandon poetry and take up stamp-collecting or real estate.” —Donald Hall “Poetry is a rich, full-bodied whistle, cracked ice crunching in pails, the night that numbs the leaf, the duel of two nightingales, the sweet pea that has run wild, Creation’s tears in shoulder blades.” —Boris Pasternak “Wanted: a needle swift enough to sew this poem into a blanket.” —Charles Simic “Language is a cracked kettle on which we beat out tunes for bears to dance to, while all the time we long to move the stars to pity.” —Gustave Flaubert “Poetry is not an expression of the party line. It’s that time of night, lying in bed, thinking what you really think, making the private world public, that’s what the poet does.” —Allen Ginsberg. ~~~~~ Amy King, Moderator Amy King is the recipient of the 2015 Winner of the WNBA Award (Women’s National Book Association). Her latest collection, The Missing Museum, is a winner of the 2015 Tarpaulin Sky Book Prize. She serves on the executive board of VIDA: Women in Literary Arts and is co-editing with Heidi Lynn Staples the anthology, Big Energy Poets of the Anthropocene: When Ecopoets Think Climate Change. She is also co-editing the anthology, Bettering American Poetry 2015, and is an Associate Professor of Creative Writing at SUNY Nassau Community College. ...more

World Castle Book Club — 78 members — last activity Jul 10, 2016 01:46PM
Welcome to World Castle book group! We talk about all things World Castle and books, so join the fun! Our authors participate in this group, as well, ...more