D.M. Barr

ALLi Author Member

Location: United States of America (the)

Genres: Travel Writing, True Crime, Commercial Fiction, Crime, Romance, Thriller, Womens Fiction

Skills: Press/Media Interview, Reading/Literary Event, Speaking Engagement/Lecture, Writing Workshop

D.M. Barr is the pseudonym for Dawn M. Barclay, an award-winning hybrid author who writes psychological and romantic suspense under this pen name and non-fiction under her own. Her published novels include Expired Listings, Murder Worth the Weight, Saving Grace: A Psychological Thriller, The Queen of Second Chances, and Simple Tryst of Fate. Level Best Books will release her newest domestic thriller, Deadly When Disturbed, in January 2025, and in February, LBB will also publish the first of her upcoming multi-volume series, Vacations Can Be Murder: A True Crime Lover's Travel Guide.

(Note: Two of these books are now self-published after the rights reverted from the original publisher. Expired Listings was always self-published. All of my books are or have been with smaller presses/indie publishers.)

Among other honors, Dawn won the Lowell Thomas Gold Award from the SATW Foundation for her autism travel bible, Traveling Different: Vacation Strategies for Parents of the Anxious, the Inflexible, and the Neurodiverse (Rowman & Littlefield, 2022). She recently finished her second stint co-editing a Sisters in Crime NY/Tri-state anthology. New York State of Crime, published by Down & Out Books in the fall of 2024, It includes her third published short story, Orchestral Removals in the Dark. This follows her editing of Justice for All: Murder New York Style 5, published by Level Best Books, which includes her short story, A Trial for the Books.

Dawn offers developmental and copy editing through SuggestedDevelopment.com and ghostwrites personal histories and corporate profiles through LegacyQuest net. A member of ITW, she has served as president of Hudson Valley Scribes, vice president of Sisters in Crime-NY (still a board member), and the newsletter author/board member of the NY chapter of Mystery Writers of America. Follow her at www.dmbarr.com.

D.M. Barr's books

Expired Listings: Revenge Begins at Home

In Rock Canyon real estate, someone is making a killing. Or five.

And agents are dying to sell homes. Literally.

As the town’s agent population dwindles to zero, kinky agent Dana Black’s been playing Bondage Bingo in empty houses. Her periodic blackouts leave her blissfully unaware of her whereabouts during the serial murders.

Investigator Aidan Cummings is watching…and wondering if Dana is guilty of more than being the girl who got away. Dana is wondering if vanilla Aidan could be lured to the dark side. And both are wondering if Dana is actually the Realtor Retaliator, or his next victim.

If you like your psychological thrillers with a dash of kink and a hint of humor, you’ll love Expired Listings. Get it today.

Winner/Bronze Medal (Mystery)--2017 Global E-Book Awards Winner/Honorable Mention (Humor)--2017 Readers Favorite Awards Finalist (BDSM)--2017 Golden Flogger Awards

Saving Grace: A Psychological Thriller

Grace Pierrepoint Rendell, the only child of an ailing billionaire, has been treated for paranoia since childhood. When she secretly quits her meds, she begins to suspect that once her father passes, her husband will murder her for her inheritance. Realizing that no one will believe the ravings of a supposed psychotic, she devises a creative way to save herself—she will write herself out of danger, authoring a novel with the heroine in exactly the same circumstances, thus subtly exposing her husband's scheme to the world. She hires acclaimed author Lynn Andrews to help edit her literary insurance policy, but when Lynn is murdered, Grace is discovered standing over the bloody remains. The clock is ticking: can she write and publish her manuscript before she is strapped into a straitjacket, accused of homicide, or lowered six feet under?

With a cast of secondary characters whose challenges mirror Grace's own, Saving Grace is, at its core, an allegory for the struggle of the marginalized to be heard and live life on their own terms.

Murder Worth the Weight

Whenever Terry Mangel's body acceptance revival meeting rolls into town, local diet execs and "fat shamers" turn up dead, often in grotesque, ironic ways. All single murders in small suburbs, no one's noticed a pattern, until rookie investigative reporter Camarin Torres takes a closer look.

Torres is a crusader against discrimination. She reluctantly accepts a job offered by handsome publisher Lyle Fletcher, a man with a vendetta, who sees the recent college grad as salvation for Trend, his fledgling fashion magazine. Torres, however, detests everything the publication stands for, and joins solely to transform its judgmental, objectifying content.

As an unexpected romance blossoms, the overconfident, justice-hungry reporter defies orders and infiltrates Mangel's world, only to find herself in the crosshairs of a vigilante group targeting the $60 billion diet industry. To this vindictive mob, murder is definitely worth the weight. But as Torres soon learns, unmasking the killer may save her life but shatter her heart: every clue seems to implicate Fletcher, her mercurial mentor and lover, as the group's mastermind.

Previously published as Slashing Mona Lisa.

The Queen of Second Chances

he Queen of Second Chances is the story of a young woman who champions seniors' hopes and dreams while challenging their worst enemies: regret and abuse.

Carraway (Carra) Quinn is a free-spirited English major confronting an unreceptive job market. Desperate for cash, she reluctantly agrees to her realtor stepmother's marketing scheme: infiltrate a local senior center as a recreational aide, ingratiate herself with the members, and convince them to sell their homes.

Jay Prentiss is a straitlaced, overprotective attorney whose beloved but mentally fragile Nana attends that center. More creative than mercenary, Carra discovers she loves working with the seniors and convinces Jay to finance innovations to the Center's antiquated programming. Her ingenuity injects new enthusiasm among the seniors, inspiring them to confront and reverse the regrets of their past.

An unlikely romance develops. But when Carra's memoir-writing class prompts Jay's Nana to skip town in search of a lost love, the two take off on a cross-country, soul-searching chase that will either deepen their relationship or tear them apart forever.

Simple Tryst of Fate

A desire for a more conventional life once propelled travel writer Dani Barrett into a disastrous marriage. Ten years later and newly divorced, she’s back on the road with a series of rules to protect her heart and a secret sideline as an erotica author.

On a press trip, she meets James Aldridge, a charming yet cynical publisher who arouses her interest. Little does Dani know James is secretly an investigative journalist with his own kinky streak, and that rather than writing a travelogue, his undercover probe into political corruption will suck her into a treacherous journey across South America that could either end at James's gravesite or in his loving arms.

Traveling Different: Vacation Strategies for Parents of the Anxious, the Inflexible, and the Neurodiverse

The award-winning travel bible for parents of children with autism spectrum disorder and/or mood and distraction disorders.

“An essential read, not only for parents of autistic or otherwise neurodivergent children but for all families.”—Library Journal, Starred Review

Traveling with children is always challenging, but for parents of children with autism spectrum disorder and/or mood and attention and distraction disorders it can be especially intimidating. In Traveling Different, Dawn M. Barclay presents travel strategies and anecdotes from Certified Autism Travel Professionals™, parents of special needs children, associations and advocates, and mental health professionals, broken down by mode of transportation and type of venue. The heart of the book outlines suggested itineraries for spectrum families as well as venues that cater to the unique special interests that are characteristic of individuals with autism.

Culminating with a guide of travel agents who specialize in special needs travel and lists of organizations that advocate for special needs families, Traveling Different is the essential resource to make the cultural, educational, and bonding benefits of vacations available to all.

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