Barbara is an international bestselling author, whose books have topped Amazon and Kobo, and also appeared on the USA Today chart.

Her contemporary psychological thrillers are published under the name Barbara Copperthwaite, and including the Amazon Number 1 hit, The Perfect Friend. 

As Barbara Havelocke she creates dark, tense Gothic historical thrillers set in the early Victorian era. Estella’s Revenge was longlisted for the prestigious Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award 2025.

For over twenty years Barbara wrote for & edited national magazines & newspapers, talking to victims of crime – and its perpetrators. Her fiction reflects this: she creates realistic characters, and often explores moral grey areas, and how the past shapes the present. 

Barbara is also a professional artist specialising in animals and nature. She lives in Birmingham, UK, with her partner and their rescue dogs, Scamp, Buddy, and Arty.