Richard Lewis Boyer is an American writer, best known for series of crime novels featuring Charlie "Doc" Adams, a dental surgeon in New England. His novel Billingsgate Shoal received the Edgar Award

Edgar Award

The Edgar Allan Poe Awards , named after Edgar Allan Poe, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America...

 for best novel in 1983.

Boyer was born in Evanston

Evanston, Illinois

Evanston is a suburban municipality in Cook County, Illinois 12 miles north of downtown Chicago, bordering Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, and Wilmette to the north, with an estimated population of 74,360 as of 2003. It is one of the North Shore communities that adjoin Lake Michigan...

, Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

. He majored in English at Denison University

Denison University

Denison University is private, coeducational, and residential college of liberal arts and sciences founded in 1831. It is located in Granville, Ohio, United States, approximately 30 miles east of Columbus, the state capital...

 and earned an MFA in Creative Writing at the University of Iowa

University of Iowa

The University of Iowa is a public state-supported research university located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the oldest public university in the state. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees...

, studying under Kurt Vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. was a 20th century American writer. His works such as Cat's Cradle , Slaughterhouse-Five and Breakfast of Champions blend satire, gallows humor and science fiction. He was known for his humanist beliefs and was honorary president of the American Humanist Association.-Early...

. Boyer worked as a high school teacher, a sales representative for publishing company and taught English at Western Carolina University

Western Carolina University

Western Carolina University is a coeducational public university located in Cullowhee, North Carolina, United States. The university is a constituent campus of the University of North Carolina system....

 since 1988.

Doc Adams novels

• Billingsgate Shoal (1982)
• The Penny Ferry (1984)
• The Daisy Ducks (1986)
• Moscow Metal (1987)
• The Whale's Footprints (1988)
• Gone to Earth (1990)
• Yellow Bird (1991)
• Pirate Trade (1994)
• The Man Who Whispered (1998)

Other works

• The Giant Rat of Sumatra (1976)
• A Sherlockian Quartet (1999); short story collection
• Mzungu Mjinga: Swahili for Crazy White Man (2004)
• Buck Gentry (2005)