About the author ...
Richard was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the scion of a traditional Italian-American family, which means he learned two things very early in life. One: ravioli tastes much better than baby formula. Two: if you don't get to the table on time, there is no ravioli.
After an undistinguished academic career, Richard traveled Europe extensively, living in London for a time, where he sold clothing in Chelsea, and foreign language encyclopedias door-to-door in Hampstead Heath.
Needless to say, he hawked a few more ties than tomes, but neither job paid enough to keep him in beer and skittles. So, abandoning his dream (that being to become the next Bryan Ferry), he returned to the States and joined his family's construction firm.
Five years and a hundred smashed thumbs later, he decided that writing might be a better job.
After working as a freelance writer for years, during which time he was published in more than two hundred publications -- including The Chicago Tribune, The Detroit Free Press, The Seattle Times, and many others -- Richard wrote three pages of what was to become the first chapter of Deviant Way. He was immediately signed to a New York agency.
When he finished the book, Michael Korda signed him to a two-book deal at Simon & Schuster. In 1996 Deviant Way won the OLMA for Best First Mystery.
Richard went on to publish The Violet Hour (1998), Kiss of Evil (2001), The Rosary Girls (2005), and The Skin Gods (2006) and Merciless (2007). His novels have now been published in more than twenty countries.
In the United Kingdom, Richard is published by Random House U.K. All three books in his Philadelphia Homicide series were instant Sunday Times bestsellers.
Richard's newest novel of suspense Badlands will be published in hardcover by Ballantine Books on August 26, 2008. It will be published under the title Play Dead by Random House UK on August 14, 2008.
