All that Glitter TV Pilot by Susan Marks

Frances Glessner Lee definitely influenced me writing the TV pilot, All that Glitters.  The main character in my script is brilliant, misunderstood, obsessed with murder, struggling to fit into societal norms, an underdog driven by redemption and held back by inner demons, just like Frances. In fact, my character's name was Frances for many versions of the script until I changed it to Grace because it is more appropriate for something that happens later in the series.

A bit more about All that Glitters: Inspired by a secret U.S. intelligence program, Operation Paperclip. a quintessential 1950s housewife becomes obsessed with an unsolved murder in her pristine suburb, leading to the discovery of a sadistic Nazi doctor hiding in plain sight and the subsequent unraveling of her own life. 

I'm thrilled to see All that Glitters in the Hollywood Reporter but I would be even more thrilled to see it made into a TV series. Thank you Women's List. What a classy group of individuals. 

Filming for Murder in a Nutshell documentary film - July 2025

Interviewing Corinne May Botz, author of The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death was one of the brightest highlights of my journey with Frances Glessner Lee. Botz is brilliant, lovely, talent, fun, funny, genuine, insightful, profound and the best part about her? She love Frances Glessner Lee just is much as I do. We start editing her interview soon, along with another great interview we filmed recently. 

Held in Minnesota: Untold WWII POW Stories

My side hustle? Making documentary films for PBS and I LOVE it. 

If you love PBS as much as I do, feel free to watch my last film about

Italian & German POW during World War II being held in POW camps 

(not interment camps - that's something very different) in the US. This 

doc focuses on Minnesota and a bit of Iowa. 

Murder in a Nutshell: The Frances Glessner Lee Story Documentary

Great documentary film news is in the works! Funny how it's all coming together after all these years. In the meantime, enjoy these clues. They may not be what they appear at first glance. And Frances Glessner Lee was smarter that pretty much everybody. 

 

Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death - Missing Nutshell

I recently took this photo of "Sitting Room and Woodshed" -- the Nutshell that was missing but also hiding in plain sight for decade at the Bethlehem Heritage Center in NH. I love it so much because in this light, it's so hard to tell it's a miniature. And I love how Frances Glessner Lee just keeps on keeping us guessing. 

For those of you who are wondering, we are still working on Murder in a Nutshell: The Frances Glessner Lee Story. I love how this film is coming together.