See Barbara Ovstedal for the article about the author previously writing under the pseudonym Barbara Paul.Barbara Paul is an American writer of detective stories and science fiction. She was born in Maysville, Kentucky, in 1931 and was educated at Bowling Green State University and the University of Pittsburgh, among others.A number of her novels feature in-jokes: for example Full Frontal Murder borrows various names from the British TV series Blake's 7.She lives near Sacramento, California.