She has previously worked as a public relations officer for the National Schizophrenia Fellowship's Good Companion Service and as a mental health advocate for the mentally disordered in a psychiatric hospital. She is currently the patron of a charity that cares for those in emotional and mental distress.
Barbara has written thirteen books in her series about Cetin Ikmen, a chain-smoking and hard-drinking detective on the Istanbul police force, and his colleagues Mehmet S leyman, Balthazar Cohen and Armenian pathologist Arto Sarkissian.