Richard was born and spent most of his boyhood in the Garden Bay neighborhood of Queens, NY. In his teen years Richard and his family moved into the Forest Hills neighborhood of Queens, and then in his early adulthood, Richardās work brought him to suburban New Jersey, although he was always a New Yorker in his heart and soul. While living in New Jersey, Richard met and married his wife Anna, and soon afterward they moved to New England. It was in this, the happiest period of his life, that Richard was able to focus on his writing, film-making and podcasting.
Richard and Anna co-founded Nine Muses Books so they could personally publish his writings, including his Lizzie Borden, Girl Detective series of mysteries, for which he is best known. Richard wrote easily in many genres, in both fiction and non-fiction. His fiction short stories and non-fiction essays have been published in a variety of journals. He was also a lecturer on historic Victorian women and on silent film comedy. Richard also was a budding actor and appeared in several local plays. His GardenBayFilms Channel on YouTube contains a variety of short films Richard made, mostly centered on Lizzie Borden. Richardās Lizzie Borden Podcast, available on iTunes, examines the Lizzie Borden case with various historians, as well as contains a radio play of The Agitated Elocutionist, one of his Girl Detective short stories.
Richard had plans to continue to create films, write stories, deliver more lecture series, and to interview more historians for his podcast, but his ill health caused him to put his plans on hold. When he learned that he did not have much time left, he said, āBut I am not finished yet!ā After it became tragically clear that Richard would not recover, he indicated to his wife that he wished his writing to be published posthumously.
Anna, with the help of Richardās sister Susan, gathered Richardās writings and sorted the finished pieces into three different books: Richardās personal writings, which would be part of his Garden Bay Stories; his non-fiction essays, which would be part of the Of Moons and Monoliths essay collection; and his Lizzie Borden, Girl Detective stories collected into one complete volume, The Audible Amnesiac and other Lizzie Borden Girl Detective Mysteries.
Richard is sorely missed, but he leaves us a legacy of fine work in a variety of media and genres.