Richards, Justin

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Richards, Justin

PERSONAL: Married; children: two sons.

ADDRESSES: Home—Warwick, England. Agent—Miles Stott Children's Literary Agency, East Hook Farm, Lower Quay Rd., Hook, Haverfordwest SA62 4LR, Wales. E-mail—info@invisible-detective.com.

CAREER: Novelist, editor, technical writer, and software designer. Worked as a software designer for multinational computer company for fourteen years; British Broadcasting Corporation, London, England, creative director for BBC Worldwide.

WRITINGS:

The Death Collector (novel), Bloomsbury Children's Books (New York, NY), 2006.

Also author of film and television scripts.

"BENNY SUMMERFIELD" NOVEL SERIES

Dragons' Wrath, Virgin Books, (London, England), 1997.

The Medusa Effect, Virgin Books (London, England), 1998.

The Joy Device, Virgin Books (London, England), 1999.

Tears of the Oracle, Virgin Books (London, England), 1999.

Professor Bernice Summerfield and the Doomsday Manuscript, Big Finish (Maidenhead, England), 2000.

"DOCTOR WHO" NOVEL SERIES; BASED ON THE TELEVISION SERIES

Theatre of War ("New Adventures" cycle), Virgin Books (London, England), 1994.

System Shock ("Missing Adventures" series), Virgin Books (London, England), 1995.

(Editor with Andy Lane) Decalog 3—Consequences: Ten Stories, Seven Doctors, One Chain of Events, BBC Books (London, England), 1996.

The Sands of Time ("Missing Adventures" series), Virgin Books (London, England), 1996.

(Editor with Andy Lane, and contributor) Decalog 4—Re-Generations: Ten Stories, a Thousand Years, One Family, BBC Books (London, England), 1997.

(With Andrew Martin) Dr. Who: The Book of Lists, BBC Books (London, England), 1997.

Option Lock, BBC Books (London, England), 1998.

Dreams of Empire, BBC Books (London, England), 1998.

Demontage, BBC Books (London, England), 1999.

Millennium Shock, BBC Books (London, England), 1999.

Grave Matter, BBC Books (London, England), 2000.

(With Andy Lane) The Banquo Legacy,BBC Worldwide (London, England), 2000.

The Burning, BBC Books (London, England), 2000.

The Shadow in the Glass, BBC Books (London, England), 2001.

Time Zero, BBC Worldwide (London, England), 2002.

Doctor Who, the Legend: 40 Years of Time Travel, BBC Books (London, England), 2003.

Sometime Never—, BBC Books (London, England), 2004.

The Clockwise Man, BBC Books (London, England), 2005.

Monsters and Villains (reference book), BBC Books (London, England), 2005.

The Deviant Strain, BBC Books (London, England), 2005.

The Legend Continues, BBC Books (London, England), 2005.

The Resurrection Casket, BBC Books (London, England), 2006.

Also author of "Dr. Who" audio plays Whispers of Terror, Red Dawn, The Time of the Daleks, 2002, The Inquiry, 2004, Pandora, 2005, and Mindbomb, 2006.

"INVISIBLE DETECTIVE" NOVEL SERIES

The Paranormal Puppet Show, Pocket (London, England), 2003, published as Double Life, Putnam's (New York, NY), 2005.

The Shadow Beast, Pocket (London, England), 2003, Putnam's (New York, NY), 2005.

Ghost Soldiers, Pocket (London, England), 2003.

Killing Time, Simon & Schuster (London, England), 2004, Putnam's (New York, NY), 2007.

The Faces of Evil, Pocket (London, England), 2004.

Web of Anubis, Pocket (London, England), 2004.

Stage Fright, Pocket (London, England), 2005.

Legion of the Dead, Pocket (London, England), 2005.

ADAPTATIONS: The first two books in the "Invisible Detective" series were adapted as audiobooks by Chivers Audio, 2004; The Death Collector was adapted as an audiobook, Random House Audio, 2006; Dr. Who: The Resurrection was adapted as an audiobook, including an interview with Richards, 2006.

SIDELIGHTS: A former tech writer and software designer, Justin Richards is known for the novels he has written based on the popular, long-running Doctor Who television series, produced by the British Broadcasting Corporation. In addition to these sci-fi novels, Richards has also penned the "Invisible Detective" series, which includes Double Life, The Shadow Beast, and Ghost Soldiers. In the "Invisible Detective" series, mysterious sleuth Brandon Lake solves crime in 1930s London. Lake is not a single person, however; he is actually the creation of four imaginative teens: Art, Meg, Johnny, and Flinch, who are helped in their effort by Art's policeman father. Time travel elements also figure in the series; a parallel story taking place in modern times finds a boy named Art discovering the chronicles of the detectives, only to realize that the decades-old document seemes to be written in his own handwriting.

The "Invisible Detective" series begins with Double Life, as the Invisible Detective band investigates missing persons and an exhibition of strange, life-like mannequins. In the second book, The Shadow Beast, the four teens follow clues leading them to the maze of underground tunnels below London, where they encounter a vicious, rat-like beast that is controlled by the man who has been masterminding recent bank robberies. "The dark and menacing world beneath the streets of London is richly evoked, and the detectives' encounter with a mass of scurrying rats is guaranteed to give plenty of kids the creeps," commented Booklist critic Todd Morning. In series installment Double Life the detectives uncover the link between a suspicious puppeteer, a string of missing persons, and a plot against the life of the Duke of York. In School Library Journal Dana Pierce wrote that the first two books in the series are "fast-paced, action-packed stories" that should interest teen mystery buffs.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, August, 2005, Todd Morning, review of The Shadow Beast, p. 2030.

Kliatt, March, 2005, Julie Scordato, review of The Paranormal Puppet Show, p. 53.

School Librarian, winter, 2004, Chris Brown, review of Web of Anubis, p. 204.

School Library Journal, July, 2005, B. Allison Gray, review of The Invisible Detective (audiobook), p. 58; October, 2005, Dana Pierce, review of Double Life, p. 172.

Voice of Youth Advocates, August, 2005, Mary Arnold, review of Double Life, p. 237.