Barbara Nadel
BornLondon, United Kingdom
OccupationAuthor
NationalityEnglish
GenreMystery fiction
Years active1999–present
Notable worksÇetin İkmen series

Barbara Nadel is an English crime-writer. Many of her books are set in Turkey, others in London's East End. She is best known for her Istanbul-set Çetin İkmen novels.

Background

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 was the patron of The Acorn Group in Shrewsbury,[1][2] a charity (now apparently closed following a cut in funding[3][4]) caring for those in emotional and mental distress.

She has been a regular visitor to Turkey for more than 25 years.

Until late 2014, Nadel lived in "the wilds of the north of England" with her husband and six axolotls,[5] her "very demanding Persian cat" having died on 23 December 2011,[6] but then moved from the Pennines to "a small village in Essex just outside London".[7] Her son is a comic book writer.[8]

Writing

Nadel is best known for her series about Çetin İkmen, 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, and have been released as audiobooks 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.

In January 2011, Quercus announced the signing of Ms Nadel to write a new crime series set in the modern-day East End, to be published starting Summer 2012 under the name B J Nadel,[9] although the published book A Private Business, was ultimately credited to Barbara Nadel.[10] The book, and its sequels, focus on private investigator Lee Arnold and his Muslim assistant Mumtaz Hakim. Publication moved to Allison & Busby from the fifth book in the series.

Other published works include short stories in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, plus British magazines (My Weekly and Woman's Own), and travel pieces for British newspapers (The Guardian, The Sunday Times, The Independent), and the US food magazine Saveur.[citation needed]

Awards

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)

2008 winner of the London Borough of Redbridge "Big Red Read" Book of the Year for Ashes to Ashes

2010 winner of the London Borough of Redbridge "Big Red Read" Crime Fiction of the Year for Sure and Certain Death

2013 Derringer Finalist for short story "Nain Rouge", published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine

Bibliography

Çetin İkmen

Published by Headline

  1. Belshazzar's Daughter (1999)
  2. A Chemical Prison (aka The Ottoman Cage) (2000)
  3. Arabesk (2001)
  4. Deep Waters (2002)
  5. Harem (2003)
  6. Petrified (2004)
  7. Deadly Web (2005)
  8. Dance With Death (2006)
  9. A Passion for Killing (2007)
  10. Pretty Dead Things (2007)
  11. River of the Dead (2009)
  12. Death by Design (2010)
  13. A Noble Killing (2011)
  14. Dead of Night (2012)
  15. Deadline (2013)[11]
  16. Body Count (2014)[12]
  17. Land of the Blind (2015)[13]
  18. On the Bone (2016)[14]
  19. The House of Four (2017)[15]
  20. Incorruptible (2018)
  21. A Knife to the Heart (2019)
  22. Blood Business (2020)[16]
  23. Forfeit (2021)
  24. Bride Price (2022)
  25. Double Illlusion (2023)

Francis Hancock

Published by Headline

  1. Last Rights (2005)
  2. After the Mourning (2006)
  3. Ashes to Ashes (2008)
  4. Sure and Certain Death (2009)

Hakim & Arnold

Published by Quercus

  1. A Private Business (2012)
  2. An Act of Kindness (2013)
  3. Poisoned Ground (2014)[17]
  4. Enough Rope (2015)[18]

Published by Allison & Busby

  1. Bright Shiny Things (2017)[19]
  2. Displaced (2018)
  3. A Time to Die (2020)
  4. Web of Lies (2022)

Adaptations

In June 2020, it was announced that Miramax TV and ViacomCBS International Studios would produce a television adaptation of the Çetin İkmen novels entitled The Turkish Detective.[20]

By April 2022, the project was greenlit for a full series of eight episodes, to be released on Paramount+. The series will be written by Ben Schiffer, and directed by Niels Arden Oplev. Acclaimed Turkish actor Haluk Bilginer will star as İkmen, alongside Ethan Kai as Mehmet Süleyman, and Yasemin Allen as Ayşe Farsakoğlu.[21]

References

  1. ^ "The Acorn Group home page". btconnect.com. Retrieved 17 September 2015.
  2. ^ The Acorn Group (pamphlet (large JPG) ed.). Retrieved 17 September 2014.
  3. ^ "Charity to Close in Funding Crisis". Shrewsbury Chronicle. 12 August 2010. Archived from the original on 10 October 2014. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
  4. ^ "Charity Number 1118270". UK Charity Commission Register of Charities. Retrieved 17 September 2014.
  5. ^ Nadel, Barbara (19 April 2012). "Tweet at 2:40 AM". Twitter. Retrieved 15 July 2012.
  6. ^ Nadel, Barbara (2 May 2012). "Blog entry". International Crime Authors Reality Check. Archived from the original on 2 May 2012. Retrieved 15 July 2012.
  7. ^ Nadel, Barbara (19 April 2015). "Blog entry". International Crime Authors Reality Check. Archived from the original on 19 April 2015. Retrieved 14 April 2015.
  8. ^ Sümer, Gencoy (25 May 2023). "Interview with Barbara Nadel". Dedektif Dergi. Retrieved 2 September 2023.
  9. ^ "Blog entry". Quercus. 24 January 2011. Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 21 June 2011.
  10. ^ Nadel, Barbara. Private Business: Hakim Arnold Mystery. ASIN 0857387731.
  11. ^ Headline web site. Accessed 16 July 2012
  12. ^ Headline web site. Accessed 17 September 2014
  13. ^ Headline web site. Accessed 17 September 2014
  14. ^ Headline web site.[permanent dead link] Accessed 11 December 2015
  15. ^ Headline web site. Archived 6 November 2016 at the Wayback Machine Accessed 6 November 2016
  16. ^ "Blood Business (Ikmen Mystery 22) by Barbara Nadel - Books". www.hachette.com.au. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
  17. ^ Quercus web site. Archived 7 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine Accessed 17 September 2014
  18. ^ Quercus web site. Accessed 2 September 2015
  19. ^ Allison & Busby web site. Accessed 6 November 2016
  20. ^ Kanter, Jake (24 June 2020). "ViacomCBS International Studios Partners With Miramax On 'The Turkish Detective'". Deadline. Retrieved 12 July 2022.
  21. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (13 April 2022). "'The Turkish Detective' From Niels Arden Oplev & Miramax TV Gets Paramount+ Series Order, Sets Cast". Deadline. Retrieved 12 July 2022.

Further reading

External links

Authority control databases
Categories