Richard Whitten Barnes was born in Minnesota but grew up on the north side of Chicago. Yes he's a Cub fan. A music scholarship took him to Michigan State University, where he majored in chemistry. He is now retired from a long career in international chemical sales and marketing, which has taken him all over the world. Barnes is a veteran of the US Army 82^nd Airborne Division and an avid sailor. He lives in Lake Wylie, S.C., but spends summers with his wife Marg and dog Sparty at their cottage on St. Joseph Island, Ontario, near Lake Huron.

Barnes latest novel, Bad Medicine, just out in September of 2011, is a thriller about the counterfeit prescription drug trade over the Canada/US border. The Corydon Snow, is a WWII historical novel of the Merchant Marine. Others: The Faircloth Reaction, a thriller about the international oil business. In his thriller Brink, an eminent scientist loses everytning, becomes homeless, and while rebuilding his life is accused of murdering his boss.

 Barnes' latest, Luzon, is an historical novel set in the early days of WWII. A young Japanese American proves his loyalty through the love of a beautiful Philippine woman.