App Store

Google Play

Details page - Device banner - 894x1036

Step into an infinite world of stories

Listen and read

Libby Fischer Hellmann

Lila Hilliard returns home to Chicago for the holidays only to find someone is stalking her. Her father and brother are trapped in a fire, and a man on a motorcycle tries to shoot her. As she desperately tries to figure out who is after her and why, she uncovers information about her father’s past indicating he was part of the volatile movement of young people during the late Sixties. Which means her parents were not the people she thought they were. Part thriller, part historical novel, part love story, Set The Night on Fire tells an extraordinary tale about the stormy late Sixties, and a group of idealists who were sure they would change the world.

A tremendous book—sweeping but intimate, elegiac but urgent, subtle but intense. This story really does set the night on fire. Lee Child

A top-rate thriller that taps into the antiwar protests of the 1960s… A jazzy fusion of past and present, Hellman’s insightful, politically charged whodunit explores a fascinating period in American history. Publishers Weekly

A brilliantly-paced thriller, transitioning seamlessly from modern-day Chicago to the late ’60s. First-rate characterization… Best to start early in the day, as it is easy to stay up all night reading it. Foreword Magazine

Electric… a marvelous novel. RT Book Reviews

Haunting… Rarely have history, mystery, and political philosophy blended so beautifully… could easily end up on the required reading list in college-level American History classes. Betty Webb, Mystery Scene

Diane Piron Gelman

The Red Herrings Press

The Revolution Sagas

Set The Night On Fire: A '60s Crime Thriller

Anna, a young American studying in Chicago falls in love with fellow-student Nouri, the son of a wealthy Iranian. Anna, whose parents are divorced, eagerly moves to Tehran where she marries and is embraced by Nouri's family. A few months later, however, in February 1978, the Shah is deposed and the Islamic Republic of Iran is formed. Life turns upside down for the couple as men, but especially women, are restricted in their activities, clothing, and behavior. Arrests and torture are frequent, education for women is prohibited, and Anna cannot travel without her husband's permission. Although she tries to conform to please her husband and new family, Anna chafes under the oppression, while Nouri seems to embrace it. Anna becomes desperate to return to America, but Nouri refuses to allow it. Tension builds until a shattering event changes everything and plunges Anna into a tumultuous and dangerous vortex, raising the possibility she will never leave Iran alive.

Hellmann crafts a tragically beautiful story that is both subtle and vibrant. The author does an amazing job of never by sacrificing the quality of her storytelling... A bleak and heart-wrenching tale that will stay with the reader long after they finish. Bryan VanMeter, Crimespree Magazine

The Iranian revolution provides the backdrop for this meticulously researched, fast-paced stand-alone… A significant departure from the author’s Chicago-based mystery series, this political thriller will please fans and newcomers alike. Publishers Weekly

Readers will be drawn in through the well-researched inside look at Iran in the late 1970s and gain perspective on what the people in that time and place endured. A Bitter Veil is so thought-provoking that it especially would be a great title for book clubs. Amy Alessio, BookReporter.com

A Bitter Veil: An American Woman Trapped in Khomeini's Iran

On the eve of the Cuban Revolution, headstrong 18-year-old Francesca Pacelli flees from her ruthless Mafia-boss father in Havana to the arms of her lover, a rebel fighting with Fidel Castro. Her father, desperate to send her to safety in the US, resorts to torture and blackmail as he searches the island for her.

So begins the first part of a spellbinding saga that spans three generations of the same family. Decades later, the family is lured back to Cuba by the promise of untold riches. But pursuing those riches brings danger as well as opportunity, and ultimately, Francesca’s family must confront the lethal consequences of their choices. From the troubled streets of Havana to the mean streets of Chicago, HAVANA LOST reveals the true cost of chasing power instead of love.

HAVANA LOST is award-winning author Libby Fischer Hellmann’s tenth novel and third thriller that explores how strife and revolution affect the human spirit. The novel is a testament to Hellmann’s gift for authentic historical detail as well as her talent for writing compulsively readable thrillers.

Awards and Nominations:
Foreword Magazine Finalist for Best Thriller of the Year — 2013“Notable Page-Turner,” Shelf Unbound Magazine Fiction Competition — 2014Honorable Mention, 2014 Book of the Year, Chicago Writers Association

James Lewis

Havana Lost: A Multi-Generational Mafia Family Saga in Cuba

As World War II rages across Europe and the Pacific, its impact ripples through communities in the heartland of America. A farm girl is locked in a dangerous love triangle with two Germans soldiers held in an Illinois POW camp. Another German, a war refugee, is forced to risk her life spying on the developing Manhattan Project in Chicago. And espionage surrounds the disappearance of an actress from the thriving Jewish community of Chicago's Lawndale. In this trio of tales, acclaimed thriller author Libby Fischer Hellmann beautifully depicts the tumultuous effect of war on the home front and illustrates how the action, terror, and tragedy of World War II was not confined to the front lines.

"Libby Hellmann’s prose is powerful. Every part of her WW II era yarns are methodically researched, taut, twist-filled and colorful with well developed supporting characters. A gripping performance.’Charles J. Masters, "Gliderman of Neptune, The American D-Day Glider Attack"

“Well-crafted and interesting…strong emotion and a sense of threat carry the story along." Historical Novel Society

“Libby Fischer Hellmann is one of the few authors who can surprise me nearly every time I pick up one of her books. Here, the surprise comes in her clear understanding of the World War II homefront, almost as though she had lived it herself.” Buried Under Books, Lelia Taylor

"Libby Fischer Hellman powerfully illustrates what individuals could have faced while living in such perilous times. This is an engaging read with much food for thought." Judi Gigstad, BookReporter

"Fast-reading and well told, the three tales are intriguing, smoothly written and enjoyable. (5 Stars)" Theodore Feit, Vine Voice

Derek Shetterly

War, Spies, and Bobby Sox: Stories About World War Two At Home

In 1968 two young Vietnamese sisters flee to Saigon after their village on the Mekong River is attacked by American forces and burned to the ground. The sole survivors of the brutal massacre that killed their family, the sisters struggle to survive but become estranged, separated by sharply different choices and ideologies. Mai ekes out a living as a GI bar girl, but Tam’s anger festers, and she heads into jungle terrain to fight with the Viet Cong. For nearly ten years, neither sister knows if the other is alive. Do they both survive the war? And if they do, can they mend their fractured relationship? Or are the wounds from their journeys too deep to heal? In a stunning departure from her crime thrillers, Libby Fischer Hellmann delves into a universal story about survival, family, and the consequences of war.

Robin Rowan

A Bend In the River: Two Sisters Struggle to Survive the Vietnam War

A sweeping World War 2 saga in which a young German Jew flees Europe, emigrates to America, and joins the Army to fight Nazis

 As the Nazis conquer Europe, Jewish teen Max and his parents flee German persecution to Holland, where Max finds true friends and a life-altering romance. But when Hitler invades in 1940, Max escapes to Chicago, leaving his parents and friends behind. When he learns of his parents' murder, Max immediately enlists in the US Army. After basic training he is sent to Camp Ritchie, Maryland, where he is trained in interrogation and counterintelligence. 

Deployed to the OSS, Max carries out dangerous missions in Occupied countries. He also interrogates German POWs, especially after D-Day and the Battle of the Bulge, where, despite life-threatening conditions, he elicits critical information about German troop movements. 

Post-war, he works for the Americans in the German denazification program, bringing him back to his Bavarian childhood home of Regensburg. Though the city avoided large-scale destruction, the Jewish community was decimated. Max roams familiar yet strange streets, replaying memories of lives lost to unspeakable tragedy. While there, however, he reunites with someone from his past, who, like him, sought refuge abroad. Can they rebuild their lives… together? 

This epic, suspenseful coming of age and war story is Libby Hellmann’s tribute to her late father-in-law who was active with the OSS and interrogated dozens of German POWs.

Sure to captivate readers of Kate Quinn and Kristin Hannah, Max’s War delves into events that occur during periods of extreme conflict when hate seems to be winning.