Barbara Nadel Books In Order

Publication Order of Francis Hancock Books

Publication Order of Hakim and Arnold Books

Publication Order of Inspector Ikmen Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Born and brought up in the East End of London, Barbara Nadel is a loving wife, mother, cat lover and a very charitable person who also happens to be a terrific crime fiction writer. She was trained to become an actress in her youth but fate had different plans. She is married and has a son who is a published academic. She lives in a small village in Essex near London with her family and her six cats. She loves travelling to Turkey and has been there 25 times. Many of her books are set in this striking land in Asia. She is a very giving person and has a degree in psychology. She is very passionate about causes related to mental illnesses. She has worked with sexually abused teenagers and persons suffering from mental illnesses. She was a patron of The Acorn Group of Shrewsbery which provided out of hours service for the mentally ill, however the charity was shut down in 2011 due to funding problems. She was also a public relations officer for the National Schizophrenia Fellowship’s Good Companion Service and has worked as a mental health advocate in a psychiatric hospital.

Barbara published her first book titled ‘Belshazzar’s Daughter’ in 1999. The book became the first of its series featuring the character ‘Inspector Cetin Ikmen’. Barbara has written more than 14 books in this series. The character ‘Inspector Cetin Ikmen’ has become a favorite among many of her fans. The hero is an Inspector in Istanbul, Turkey who drinks, smokes and solves crime with the help of his colleagues. His colleagues include pathologist Artho Sarkissian, Mehmet Suleman and Balthazar Cohen who help him in solving these crimes. In the book ‘Belshazzar’s Daughter’, the Inspector has to solve the gruesome murder of Leonid Meyer, an elderly man who was a Jew. Leonid Meyer escaped the horrifying conditions of Europe to settle quietly in Istanbul. Although all evidence points to the murder being racially motivated, Inspector Ikmen is not convinced completely and sets out to find the real motive. However he in turn has to face many hurdles while getting close to the real murderer. This crime fiction series is set in Turkey, a country Barbara is very familiar with as she has visited it many times. As an exotic country, Turkey already gives the reader a feeling of an eerie atmosphere which makes the story more compelling to read. Barbara’s familiarity with the country and its traditions add the required expertise which help the reader to understand their culture easily.

The first book, of her second set of crime fiction series, is titled ‘Last Rights’ which features ‘Francis Hancock’ as the crime solving undertaker. The story is set in The London Borough of West Ham during World War II when Germany was bombing England. The first book of this series was published in 2005. In this book the character Francis Hancock is an undertaker, trying to make sense of World war II while battling his internal fears as a soldier and survivor of World War I. He gets unwittingly involved in a mystery after he sees a mad man running across the road claiming to have been stabbed though no injuries are visible to Hancock. He becomes curious when the same man ends up dead two days later. Set in the 1940s, the character is surrounded by deaths, lies, murders, spies and espionage. Treading lightly, Francis Hancock has to solves these mysteries while making sure that he survives the war as well.

Her third set of crime series is set in the current East End of London. The lead characters Mumtaz Hakim and Lee Arnold are business partners running a small detective agency called the Arnold Agency. Mumtaz Hakim is a young Asian lady who lost her husband and is looking for work to pay her debts. While Lee Arnold is an ex-copper who now works as a private investigator. They are approached by a young stand-up comedian who claims to have a stalker and wants them to protect her by catching him. The ethnically diverse East End is a tricky setting for the two as they go on to search for the stalker. Mumtaz is a psychology student and helps in solving the case even though she is an assistant. Set in modern times the secondary characters of this series belong to different communities and come from all walks of life. Barbara deftly defines each character and rationalizes their existence in the story. The lead characters also have backgrounds which are kept in suspense for the reader to know as they dig deeper into the case. The thrill of the chase is kept intact and the reader will definitely find it hard to stop reading and put the book down.

Barbara has won many awards for her gripping stories of crime fiction. Her first award was CWA Silver Dagger in 2005 which was presented to her for her book ‘Deadly Web’ from the Inspector Cetin Ikmen Series. She went on to win the ‘London Borough of Redbridge’ Big Red Read book of the year for her book ‘Ashes to Ashes’ from the ‘Francis Hancock’ series in 2008 as well as Crime Fiction of the Year for ‘Sure and Certain Death’ from the same series in 2010. Barbara has also contributed short stories in magazines like Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, My Weekly and Woman’s Own. She has also written pieces for newspapers like The Independent, The Guardian and The Sunday Times, particularly on the subject of travel. Her books have been translated in Turkish, German, Spanish and Japanese as well.

Any reader who loves to solve a mystery will find her books captivating and entertaining as well. Her knowledge of different cultures around East End only enhances the authenticity of the story being told to us. Readers can expect to be taken into the land of Istanbul and dwell deep in its exotic cultural richness as the characters go about solving their murder mysteries one by one. As Barbara is well versed with the motivations of crime as a psychologist, her stories become more and more intriguing. Her characters are colorful, engaging and very much human. Her books are available in different formats from Hardcover, paperback to audio versions as well.

2 Responses to “Barbara Nadel”

1. Kim Letson: 3 years ago

   In October 2016 I spent 11 fabulous days in Istanbul. I read a couple of Barbara Nadel’s Inspector Ikmen books during that time then tramped around visiting sites mentioned in the books. One thing that sticks in my mind is visiting the fish market near Galata Bridge (north side) because Inspector Ikmen had been there. This may be a faulty memory, but does anyone know the title of the book that has the inspector at that fish market?
   Thank you. Cheers. Kim

   Reply
   • Clarence Baldwin Davis: 2 years ago

     Karakoy Fish Market. Had a fish sandwich there in 1965.

     Reply