Batta, a Michigan native, attended Northwestern Michigan College in Traverse City, received her B.A. from the University of Puerto Rico, and went on to Oberlin College for a Master's in Teaching (MAT).

After teaching in Ohio and Pennsylvania, Pat and her husband moved to Seattle, Washington, where they lived for twenty one years, and where the Marge Christensen Mystery Series was born. In addition to teaching, Pat worked as an editorial assistant, a litigation document coder and librarian, and in records management.

Pat has been a writer since the fourth grade when the teacher instructed the class to write a story.  She was so thrilled with process of creating a different world on paper that she wrote another one, and another, and another…  For many years Pat wrote mainly for her own pleasure and between jobs, but by the time she retired she had drafted one mystery novel and was working on a second.  With time to dedicate to writing, she revised and completed work on the first book of the Marge Christensen Mystery Series, What Did You Do Before Dying?  It was published in 2008. The second,  Why Did You Die In the Park?, arrived in May, 2009.  Who More Than Wished You Were Dead? is due in 2010.

Now back in her native Michigan, in addition to writing, Pat is active in church and community, plays Bridge, reads, walks, travels, and enjoys almost anything a friend would like to do.