Barbara D'Amato

Barbara D'Amato (; born April 10, 1938) is an American mystery author and winner of the Agatha and Anthony Award. She also features in Great Women Mystery Writers.

Early life She was born Barbara Steketee in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the daughter of the owner of the department store Steketee's. She studied at Cornell University but left to marry Anthony D'Amato in 1958. Anthony became a law school professor and Barbara later completed her bachelor's degree from Northwestern University in 1971, followed by a master's.

Career She began writing full-time in 1973, first co-writing plays with her husband. After trying different genres her first published novel in 1980 was a mystery. She won the Agatha and Anthony Award for a non-fiction work, The Doctor, the Murder, the Mystery: The True Story of the Dr. John Branion Murder Case based on a case her husband worked on in 1984. The book led to the reopening of the case and eventual pardon and release of Branion.

Personal life With Anthony they have two sons Brian and Paul, and live in Chicago.

Published works

Gerritt De Graaf series

The Hands of Healing Murder (1980) The Eyes on Utopia Murders (1981)

Cat Marsala series

Hardball (1989) Hard Tack (1991) Hard Luck (1992) Hard Women (1993) Hard Case (1994) Hard Christmas (1995) Hard Bargain (1997) Hard Evidence (1999) Hard Road (2001)

Figueroa and Bennis series

Killer.app (1996) Good Cop, Bad Cop (1998) Help Me Please (1999) Authorized Personnel Only (2000) Death of a Thousand Cuts (2004)

Other novels On My Honor (1989) (writing as Malacai Black) White Male Infant (2002) Foolproof (2009) (with Jeanne M Dams and Mark Richard Zubro) Other Eyes (2011)

Anthologies and collections TitleContentsPublication DatePublisherOf Course You Know That Chocolate

Is a Vegetable: And Other StoriesSee No Evil

Freedom of the PressMay 2000Five Star First Edition Mystery

Speaking VolumesCrimes By MoonlightThe Conqueror WormJan 2010Berkley

Non-fiction The Doctor, the Murder, the Mystery: The True Story of the Dr. John Branion Murder Case (1997)