In 1966 the family purchased a vacation campground in Bobcaygeon, Ontario, which they ran for about five years until his father died from lung cancer when Barclay was sixteen.

[3] Barclay recognized his interest in writing detective fiction at an early age, inspired by the works of Ross Macdonald, who had grown up in Kitchener, Ontario.

[4] After graduating from high school Barclay studied literature at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario, where one of his teachers was the noted novelist Margaret Laurence.

[4] After graduation with an English literature degree from Trent, he could not sell any of his novels so he found work on a number of local newspapers beginning with the Peterborough Examiner.

He also released podcasts of his articles and published three collections: Mike Harris Made Me Eat My Dog, Father Knows Zilch: A Guide for Dumbfounded Dads, and This House Is Nuts!.