Frances Macarthur lives in Glasgow's South Side. She taught English in two Glasgow Comprehensive schools both of which have closed. She ran the English department in one of these schools and met her future husband there. She read her first crime novel, Agatha Christie's 'Sparkling Cyanide' while still in primary school. She has no children, wanting instead to put all her effort into teaching. She holidays in Penang, Malaysia and her next book is set there.