Downhill Disaster

Barbara Barrett started reading mysteries when she was pregnant with her first child. When she’d devoured as many Agatha Christies as she could find, she branched out to English village cozies and Ellery Queen. Later, to avoid a midlife crisis, she began writing fiction at night when she wasn’t at her day job in human resources for Iowa State Government.

After releasing eleven full-length romance novels and two novellas, she returned to the cozy mystery genre, using one of her retirement pastimes, the game of mah jongg, as her inspiration. Not only has it been a great social outlet, it has also helped keep her mind active when not writing. She has written nine books in her Mah Jongg Mystery cozy series that features four friends who met each other when playing mah jongg and now find themselves tracking down killers even though they’ve never received formal investigative training.

Though not an interior designer, that occupation has always fascinated Barbara. Her father was a carpenter and her husband has his own woodworking business. Exposure to their work got her interested in watching numerous home improvement shows on HGTV. Ro and Val, her characters in the seven books in the Nailed It Home Reno Mysteries series are an amalgam of several HGTV hosts. Barbara used that combination of personality traits for Ro and turned her into a female sleuth who also rehabs older houses.

Her latest cozy mystery series, the Unscripted Detective, features Marla Dane, who played the lead role of Private Investigator Letitia Carruthers on the TV show, Carruthers on the Case, until after six successful seasons she is replaced by a younger actress. When new roles don’t come her way, she returns to her home state of Minnesota and camps out in her sister’s condo where she attempts to lick her wounds and rethink her career. If she never hears about another murder, she’ll be happy. But try telling that to the locals, even the police chief who asks for her assistance tracking down a killer. Downhill Disaster is the third book in that series.

Barbara is a member of Sisters in Crime, Sinc-Iowa, Sinc-MN and Florida Star Fiction Writers.

She is married to the man she met her senior year of college. They have two grown children, eight grandchildren and three great grandchildren.

Now retired, she is a resident of Iowa and also spends time in Minnesota. She earned her B.A. degree in History from the University of Iowa and her Master’s Degree in History from Drake University.

When not in front of her laptop creating her next story, she plays mah jongg, watches TV detective shows and enjoys lunches with friends. Most recently, she has begun to paint in acrylics and is working to evolve her skills.