Richard Marsh

Richard Marsh was the pen name of English author Richard Bernard Heldmann, born in North London on October 12, 1857. He began writing boys’ adventure stories in the early 1880s and briefly worked as a co-editor of the weekly magazine Union Jack. After serving a prison sentence for issuing forged cheques in 1884, he adopted the name Richard Marsh, formed from his own first name and his mother’s maiden name.

Marsh went on to publish nearly 80 volumes of fiction, moving easily between horror, crime, romance, humor, and science fiction. His best-known novel, The Beetle (1897), combined hypnosis, shape-shifting, mystery, and Victorian anxieties about empire and urban life. He also created popular recurring characters such as the deaf detective Miss Judith Lee. Marsh died of heart disease in Haywards Heath, Sussex, on August 9, 1915, and several of his novels appeared posthumously.