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Barbara D'Amato (born April 10, 1938 in Grand Rapids, Michigan) is an American mystery author and winner of the Agatha and Anthony Award. She also features in Great Women Mystery Writers (2007).
Biography
She was born Barbara Steketee, the daughter of the owner of the department store Steketee's. She studied at Cornell University but left to marry Anthony D'Amato in 1958. Anthony became a law school professor and Barbara later completed her bachelor's degree from Northwestern University in 1971, followed by a master's. They have two sons Brian (an author and sculptor) and Paul, and live in Chicago.
She began writing full-time in 1973, first co-writing plays with her husband. After trying different genres her first published novel in 1980 was a mystery. She won the Agatha and Anthony Award for a non-fiction work, The Doctor, the Murder, the Mystery: The True Story of the Dr. John Branion Murder Case based on a case her husband worked on in 1984. The book led to the reopening of the case and eventual pardon and release of Branion. In 1999, she served as President of the Mystery Writers of America.