Linda Barnes was born and raised in Detroit, and graduated cum laude from the School of Fine and Applied Arts at Boston University.
After college, Barnes became a drama teacher and director at Chelmsford and Lexington, Massachusetts schools.
While teaching drama, Barnes wrote two plays, the award-winning "Wings" and "Prometheus", and went on to write highly successful mystery novels.
Barnes is best known for her series featuring Carlotta Carlyle, a 6'1" redheaded detective from Boston.
Carlotta Carlyle is in the tradition of the hard-boiled female detectives created by Sue Grafton and Sara Paretsky.