Barbara Nadel is an English crime and historical fiction author and former healthcare professional. She is best known for her Inspector ðkmen series of novels set in Istanbul, Turkey, and her Francis Hancock series set in the East End of London. She has also written the Hakim and Arnold and the Ten Bells Street series, the latter under the pen name Mary Collins.
Nadel was born and raised in the East End of London in the 1960s. Her father lived through World War II and witnessed The Blitz in the early 1940s. As a child, she wanted to be an Egyptologist.
Nadel trained as an actor before becoming a writer. She worked as a public relations officer for the National Schizophrenia Fellowship's Good Companion Service and as a mental health advocate for people with mental disorders in a psychiatric hospital. She also worked with sexually abused teenagers and taught psychology in schools and colleges. She was the patron of The Acorn Group in Shrewsbury a charity that cared for those in emotional and mental distress.
Nadel tried to publish her first novel in 1992 but was unsuccessful. In 1999, she contacted the Julie Burton Literary Agency and signed with them. Nadel then signed a three-book contract with Hodder Headline, with her debut novel Belshazzar's Daughter being published that year.
Her Inspector ðkmen series follow ÃÂetin ðkmen, a detective on the Istanbul police force, and his colleague Mehmet Süleyman.
Her Francis Hancock series, set in West Ham during The Blitz, follows undertaker Francis Hancock. The first novel Last Rights was published in 2005. With this second series, Nadel became a full-time professional writer in 2006.
In 2011, Quercus signed Nadel to write a new crime series set in the modern-day East End of London which was to be published starting in summer 2012 under the pen name B J Nadel. The book, A Private Business, was ultimately credited to Barbara Nadel when published. The series follows private investigator Lee Arnold and his British Bangladeshi assistant Mumtaz Hakim. The series' publication moved to Allison & Busby starting with the fifth book.
Nadel's other published works include short stories in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, My Weekly, and Woman's Own, as well as travel pieces for The Guardian, The Sunday Times, The Independent, and Saveur.
Barbara Nadel is married and has one adult son who is a comic book writer, as well as one grandson who was born in 2016. She quit drinking alcohol. Since November 2014, Nadel and her husband have resided in Essex in the East of England. The couple previously lived in Lancashire in North West England. She is a regular visitor to Turkey.
Published by Headline
Published by Headline
Published by Quercus
Published by Allison & Busby
Published by Piatkus
In June 2020, it was announced that Miramax TV and ViacomCBS International Studios would produce a television adaptation of the ÃÂetin ðkmen novels entitled The Turkish Detective.
By April 2022, the project was greenlit for a full series of eight episodes, to be released on Paramount+. The series is written by Ben Schiffer, and directed by Niels Arden Oplev. Haluk Bilginer stars as ðkmen, alongside Ethan Kai as Mehmet Süleyman and Yasemin Allen as Ayà Âe FarsakoÃÂlu. The series was released in September 2023.
The series aired in the UK on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer.