Born in the East End of London, Barbara Nadel trained as an actress before becoming a writer. Now writing full-time, she has previously worked as a public relations officer for the National Schizophrenia Fellowship's Good Companion Service and as a mental health advocate for the mentally disordered in a psychiatric hospital. She has also worked with sexually abused teenagers and taught psychology in schools and colleges, and is currently the patron of a charity that cares for those in emotional and mental distress.

She has been a regular visitor to Turkey for more than twenty years.

Barbara Nadel has written twelve books in her series about Çetin ?kmen, a chain-smoking and hard-drinking detective on the Istanbul police force, and his colleagues Mehmet Süleyman, Balthazar Cohen and Armenian pathologist Arto Sarkissian. These have been translated into a number of languages, including Turkish, as well as being released as Audio books in English and German.

Her second crime series, set in West Ham in the East End of London during The Blitz, features undertaker Francis Hancock.

Other published works include short stories in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine.

2005 winner of the CWA Silver Dagger (for Deadly Web)

2006 winner of "Jury" magazine's Flintyxan ("Flint Axe") award for Best Historical Crime Novel (for Dödlig rättvisa, Marianne Alstermark's Swedish translation of Last Rights)

Çetin ?kmen

• Belshazzar's Daughter (1999)
• A Chemical Prison (aka The Ottoman Cage) (2000)
• Arabesk (2001)
• Deep Waters (2002)
• Harem (2003)
• Petrified (2004)
• Deadly Web (2005)
• Dance With Death (2006)
• A Passion for Killing (2007)
• Pretty Dead Things (2007)
• River of the Dead (2009)
• Death by Design (2010)
• A Noble Killing (2011)

Francis Hancock

• Last Rights (2005)
• After the Mourning (2006)
• Ashes to Ashes (2008)
• Sure and Certain Death (2009)