Michelle McNamara was a writer best known for her work on the true-crime series A Crime to Remember, which followed investigations into famous cases from the past. She appeared as herself on five episodes of the Investigation Discovery network series.

McNamara was a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and and received a master's degree in creative writing from the University of Minnesota. She was also a noted true-crime author, and founded the website TrueCrimeDiary, where she covered both breaking news and cold cases.

McNamara also appeared as herself on an episode of the documentary television series The Comedians of Comedy.

She is survived by her husband, comedian and actor Patton Oswalt (The King of Queens, Ratatouille), and their seven-year-old daughter, Alice.

McNamara died April 21, 2016, in Los Angeles. She was 46.