Nancy Mangano is a novelist, screenwriter and fashion journalist. Nancy writes the Natalie North murder mystery book series and the global online fashion/style/beauty magazine, Nancy Marie Mangano Style. With degrees in Communications and Criminal Justice, she has blended her love of writing and her interest in law enforcement into her novels and screenplays.
Nancy has written three feature film screenplays: Pretties on the Prowl, Fatal Forgiveness and Rod Stewart: Every Picture Tells a Story. Nancy’s work has received several honors. She resides in Orange County, California and received the Best of Anaheim award 10 consecutive years. Nancy Mangano has been inducted into the City of Anaheim Business Hall of Fame as an author and fashion journalist.
Natalie North Novel Awards:
A Passion for Prying:
1. Received the Best Book of the Year/Murder Mystery from Books and Authors
2. Author Nancy Mangano received the Best New Mystery Writer Award
3. Received the Best Murder Mystery from the Los Angeles Book Festival
Murder Can Be Messy:
1. Received the Best Book of the Year/Murder Mystery from Books and Authors
Deadly Decisions – A Natalie North Novel:
1. Received the Best Book of the Year/Fiction from the New York Book Festival
2. Received the Best Book of the Year/Murder Mystery from the Hollywood Book Festival
Running Stop Signs:
1. Received the 2024 Paris International Book Festival award general fiction
2. Received the 2025 Los Angeles Book Festival award genre-based category
3. Received the 2025 Hollywood Book Festival award genre-based category
Publications
Being Deadly Decisions: A Natalie North Novel
A sharp private investigator. A billionaire’s murder. A web of lies that could turn lethal.
In the glitzy yet morally murky world of Los Angeles, private investigator Natalie North is tired of routine adultery cases. A psychologically astute detective and daughter of a former LAPD officer, she hungers for a felony-level investigation with real stakes. Her opportunity arrives when Victoria Belmont, the wealthy wife of a billionaire beer tycoon, hires her to expose her husband’s secret life.
When the “Beer King” is found dead in a Studio City apartment, Natalie is pulled into a dangerous web of deception, obsession, and lethal intent. From upscale Beverly Hills enclaves to the city’s grittier corners, she must navigate a maze of suspects—from vengeful mistresses to a desperate handyman—where outward privilege often masks inner rot.
Deadly Decisions is a fast-paced crime thriller anchored by a strong female lead. In a city built on mistrust, Natalie must decide how far she is willing to go to uncover a truth that someone is willing to kill for.
Perfect for fans of LISA GARDNER, J.T. ELLISON, and MICHAEL CONNELLY.
Deadly Decisions is a compelling entry in the crime thriller genre, anchored by a strong female lead and an unflinching look at obsession, power, and moral compromise.
– The Moving Words Review
Running Stop Signs: A Natalie North Novel
Los Angeles super sleuth Natalie North is fed up with catching cheating husbands red-handed and reporting back to their wives, complete with incriminating photos. Quick-witted and sharp, Natalie yearns to use her investigative skills to solve real crimes, the grittier the better. When a dead body is discovered in the Brockstone Tire parking lot in San Pedro, Natalie puts her life on the line to find the killer, determined to outdo the LAPD.
While also investigating the tangled marriage of Melvin and Ramona Evanski, hoping to catch Ramona in a compromising position, Natalie’s resolve to crack the Brockstone Tire murder case overrides her common sense. Add in Natalie’s tumultuous love life, torn between prosecuting attorney Darren McAllister, LAPD Officer Vincent Sherburne, and the enigmatic taxi driver Alfonso Di Paolo, and discover what happens when betrayal, greed, passion, and murder collide.
Running Stop Signs is an enjoyable, character-rich crime novel offering humor, heart, and a growing sense of intrigue. Fans of private-investigator fiction—especially those drawn to strong, unconventional female leads—will find much to appreciate in Mangano’s latest entry.
– The Moving Words Review
Murder Can Be Messy
The stylish Los Angeles super sleuth Natalie North is at it again, busting adulterous, lowlife partners while always wearing a great pair of high heels!
To all outward appearances, Blake and Victoria Belmont are the envious Beverly Hills power couple. When PI Natalie is hired by the socialite Victoria Belmont to catch the magnetic Blake Belmont, the sole heir to the Belmont Beer fortune, with his billion dollar pants down, Natalie discovers Blake’s double life. Natalie summons the help of her two wannabe spy friends, her boss Norton North, who happens to be her father, and Darren McAllister, her L.A. senior deputy district attorney love interest, to prevent the conniving Victoria from taking Blake for all of his worth. Can Natalie intercede and prevent Blake’s billion dollar breathing body from becoming a billion dollar corpse?
A Passion for Prying
Natalie North works as a licensed private investigator in her father’s PI agency, I Pry, Inc. Their specialty is matrimonial/relationship cases, which, if the polite words are chiseled away, deciphers to adulterous partners. Norton North, a former LAPD officer, is known as the best PI in the greater Los Angeles area. Natalie is following close in her father’s fine reputation. Tired of endless days following panting people incapable of keeping their pants on, Natalie aches to work a case of substance.
When a murder-suicide takes place at a nearby diner, Natalie takes it upon herself, much to Norton’s dismay, to investigate the crime, of what she believes is a cover up to a double homicide. As she begins to see the error of her judgment, she misses a bullet planned to carry out her own death. Having escaped her intended killing, she welcomes the chance to investigate her attempted hit, but the apprehension of it being her own intended demise casts an eerie shadow over her probing.