Barbara Fagan Speake

Barbara Fagan Speake was born and brought up in Connecticut, on the eastern seaboard of the USA. She moved to the UK in the early 1970s following her marriage and had a varied career as a research psychologist, clinical psychologist and senior manager in the NHS. A previous author of non-fiction books, book chapters and journal articles, she then turned her attention to fiction writing. Barbara creates her characters from both the US and the UK and draws on her experiences of both countries.

A fictional city in Connecticut, Westford, is the setting for all of her books. In 2011, she created a series character, Scottish Detective Annie Macpherson working with the Westford Police. To date, there are nine Annie books: Primed by the Past (2011), Programmed to Kill (2012), Past Deception (2014), Scared to Tell (2015), Based on Lies (2017) Committed to Revenge (2018), Punish the Guilty (2019), Question the Lies (2020) and Face the Lies (2021). A tenth Annie novel, Targets for Revenge has just been published.

In addition, she has published a collection of short stories (21 stories) and flash fiction (100 stories of exactly 99 words each) entitled: Shades of Crime Dark and Light (2022).

She is a regular speaker to community groups, such as the WI, Probus, U3A, Townswomen’s Groups and other special interest groups on the topic of Writing Crime Fiction. She appeared on the Indie panel at the Bristol Crime Fest in 2017. She keeps her readers updated through her Facebook Writer’s page:

https://www.facebook.com/Barbara-Fagan-Speake-Writer-1017508311601634/?ref=hl