Interviews
Play of Shadows by Crime Novelist Barbara Nickless on Tea, Tonic, and Toxin
Facing Fears and Writing Unique Characters: Joanna Penn and Barbara Nickless
Killer Women with Danielle Girard and Barbara Nickless
Sunlit Interview: Barbara Nickless focused this Sydney Parnell mystery on vulnerable workers
Donnell Bell and Barbara Nickless: At First Light
The Big Thrill: Interview by Jon Land
Articles and Essays
Rising Stars: Meet Barbara Nickless (Voyage Denver)
Colorado Sun: Pandora Papers inspired Barbara Nickless to shine light on pilfered antiquities
Female Protagonists in Crime Fiction: What You Need to Know by Barbara Nickless
How Far Will You Go … to Get Your Story Right? by Barbara Nickless
Downloadable Media
200-Word Bio
Barbara Nickless is the #1 Amazon Charts and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of the “blisteringly original” Sydney Parnell crime novels featuring a railway cop and her K9 partner. About the series, Jeffery Deaver promises “you’ll fall in love with one of the best characters in thriller fiction.” The series has been optioned for television and has won two Colorado Book Awards and twice won the prestigious Daphne du Maurier Award of Excellence. The first book in the series was a Suspense Magazine “Best of 2016” selection. Her second award-winning series features Dr. Evan Wilding—a forensic semiotician who analyzes the signs and symbols left by killers at their crime scenes. Coming Fall 2024, a standalone spy thriller. Barbara’s essays and short stories have appeared in Writer’s Digest, Criminal Element, Penguin Random House, and other markets. She also teaches creative writing to veterans at the Lyda Hill Institute of Human Resilience at the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs. Barbara is often in the Rocky Mountains where she loves to hike, cave, and drink single malt Scotch—although usually not at the same time. Find more of her writing at Living Against the Dark, and connect with her at barbaranickless.com.
369-Word Bio
Barbara was made in Japan, born in Guam, and made her way through various ports of call to Colorado. There, her mother—an English literature teacher—passed along her own love of reading by starting Barbara on comic books. Which might explain why Barbara grew up to adore H. Rider Haggard, E.E. “Doc” Smith, Leo Tolstoy, and Shakespeare in equal measure. When she was three, Barbara told her mother she wanted was to be a writer. She also wanted to be a sword fighter, an astronaut, to conduct an orchestra, go in search of lost cities and save animals. If only she’d known early on that she could do all those things—at least in her imagination—by being a writer. She got there. It just took a while. But that is the best way to live life—great journeys are as much about the detours as the destination. In addition to her career as a technical writer and instructional designer, Barbara worked as a raptor rehabilitator, piano teacher and performer, and a sword fighter. She served as the Director of Education for the country’s largest public astronomical observatory and taught Beethoven to kids. It was all great fun. But then a wildfire burned down her family’s home. It was that moment. The one that made her look around and think: “Weren’t there other things I planned to do? Hadn’t I dreamed of writing novels—lots of novels—and traveling the world?” For Barbara, losing everything also meant she had everything to gain. Her revitalized resolve to be a writer resulted in the Special Agent Sydney Parnell crime series, starting with the award-winning Blood on the Tracks. Fall of 2021 brought a new series about forensic semiotician Evan Wilding, who interprets the signs and symbols left by killers. Coming in November 2024, Barbara’s first standalone novel, a family drama/spy thriller. And traveling is now in the stars! After trips to Morocco, South Africa, Egypt, Israel, the West Bank, and (this fall) Turkey, she plans to springboard off the miles she’s logged hiking the Colorado Rockies and scale Mt. Kilimanjaro before the snow melts. Find more of her writing at Living Against the Dark, and connect with her at barbaranickless.com.