Quick Facts
Biography
Marion Foster was the pen name of Shirley Shea (1924 - 1997), a Canadian writer of mystery novels.
Born and raised in Sudbury, Ontario, Shea served in the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II and subsequently worked in radio and advertising in Toronto. In the 1960s she met Betty Burrows, who would be her partner for the remainder of her life. The couple retired to Chatsworth in the 1980s, at which time Shea began writing.
She published the novel Victims: A Pound of Flesh in 1986 under her own name, and then published two novels under the pen name Marion Foster. The Foster novels centred on Harriet Fordham Croft, a lesbian lawyer turned private investigator. The novels, described by critics as reminiscent of Raymond Chandler, were also influenced by Shea's interest in feminist literature.
She died in 1997.
Works
- Victims: A Pound of Flesh (1986, as Shirley Shea)
- The Monarchs Are Flying (1987, as Marion Foster)
- Legal Tender (1992, as Marion Foster)