Barbara’s journey to Blood Atonement began at the University of Wyoming, USA. Her first fiction writing class inspired her to write a short mystery. During another semester, during an internship in UW’s Toppan Rare Books Library, she examined women in nineteenth-century Mormon polygamy. Her research paper won a student competition at the American Heritage Center. She graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Art. Her accumulated early-Mormon research and interest in mystery writing led to trade-published Blood Atonement, a historical mystery. As for that first short mystery, she later rewrote it into Clear and Convincing Evidence, which was trade published in 2014. Her third mystery, an historical romance, Tarnished Gold was published soon after.