Richard Underwood

Biography

Richard Underwood has a wide range of experience and interests.

He joined the medical branch of the Royal Air Force straight from school, and served in hospital and medical centres at home and abroad. After leaving the air force he worked firstly as a mental health nurse and then a police officer in Greater Manchester.

He subsequently became a minister of religion for twenty-years, being ordained and commissioned as a Salvation Army Officer and later becoming an Industrial Chaplain to the Fishing Industry as a Superintendent with the Royal National Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen. During this period he also obtained a BSc(Hons) in Social Science and a diploma in counselling.

On leaving the ministry he became a civil servant at a Government Office in Leeds where he specialised in Technology and Innovation, and became the Company Secretary of a Regional Technology Network before becoming a staff counsellor for the West Yorkshire Ambulance Service, and Chief Executive of a national counselling charity.

He spent two periods as a welfare rights officer, one with Bolton Social Services and one with Salford Social Services, both in Greater Manchester, providing training and advice, and representing clients at Social Security appeal tribunals.

In his late fifties he moved to Suffolk where he became a sheltered housing manager until his retirement.

After retirement he returned to nursing, working on general wards and acute mental health wards at Bury and Ipswich hospitals in Suffolk for several years until his seventieth birthday when he moved back to Droylsden, Manchester where he lives with his wife and from where he is engaged in writing and research.

Where to find Richard Underwood online

Series

Ann Perkins Detective Agency
It's hard being a cross-dressing private detective in Manchester. The police think you are bent and the criminals think you are straight, and you don't know if you are coming or going. Ernie Wright has a plan in each of these stand-alone stories, but nothing is ever going to go right. Manchester, England, based crime thrillers with a touch of Northern humour.
Fake Witness
Price: Free!
Accused
Price: Free!
Spied
Price: Free!

Books

Pebbles
Price: Free! Words: 11,690. Language: English. Originally Published: April 16, 2024 by Taid Publishing. Categories: Poetry » Contemporary Poetry, Poetry » Spiritual, Poetry » Themes & motifs » Death
This poetry collection includes love poems, war and anti-war poems, funeral poems (including the acclaimed 'Alzheimer's' funeral poem), funny poems, observational poems and a wide-ranging selection of charming and thoughtful poems on many different subjects. It concludes with a series of tongue-in-cheek comic monologues based upon famous characters from the Old Testament.
Ann Perkins Detective Agency Trilogy
Series: Ann Perkins Detective Agency. Price: Free! Words: 179,990. Language: English. Originally Published: July 24, 2023 by Taid Publishing. Categories: Fiction » Mystery & detective » Women Sleuths, Fiction » Mystery & detective » General, Fiction » Thriller & suspense » General
The Ann Perkins Detective Agency Trilogy Box Set contains all three of the Ann Perkins books. Manchester based crime thrillers with a touch of Northern humour. Book 1 - Fake Witness describes the unexpected creation of the Ann Perkins detective agency. Book 2 - Accused has two murders, two arrests, two innocent people. Book 3 - Spied ties up all the lose ends and provides a fitting climax.
Webtrees Family Tree Manual
Price: Free! Words: 30,160. Language: English. Originally Published: June 22, 2023 by Taid Publishing. Categories: Nonfiction » History » Family history, Nonfiction » Computers & Internet » Web / page design
Webtrees Family Tree Software is probably the most widely used self-hosting family tree website creation software. It is free, well designed, fully configurable, easy to use, and this manual takes you step-by-step through the whole process of installation, administration, and use with separate sections for webmasters, administrators, users, editors, moderators, and family tree managers.
Spied
Series: Ann Perkins Detective Agency, Book 3. Price: Free! Words: 54,340. Language: English. Originally Published: May 29, 2023 by Taid Publishing. Categories: Fiction » Mystery & detective » Women Sleuths, Fiction » Mystery & detective » General, Fiction » Thriller & suspense » General
Ernie Wright has signed the 'Official Secrets Act' and been recruited by GCHQ, but that doesn't stop him from being arrested when he is found with his hands around the neck of his neighbour's dead body. Terrorists, diamonds, murders and mayhem abound in this stand alone third and final book in the Ann Perkins Detective Agency series which ties up all the lose ends and provides a fitting climax.
Overcoming
Price: Free! Words: 34,360. Language: English. Originally Published: May 26, 2023 by Taid Publishing. Categories: Nonfiction » Biography » Religious biography, Nonfiction » Religion & Spirituality » Christianity, Nonfiction » Religion & Spirituality » Christian Life / General
An autobiographical account of the training, ordination, and subsequent social and pastoral work of a young married couple who were commissioned as Salvation Army Officers in the 1970s.
A Brief History of Life: From the Origin of Life to the End of the Universe
Series: The Science of Life and Consciousness, Book 1. Price: Free! Words: 43,420. Language: English. Originally Published: May 25, 2023 by Taid Publishing. Categories: Nonfiction » Science & Nature » Biology, Nonfiction » Science & Nature » Life Sciences / Biophysics, Nonfiction » Science & Nature » Physics / Quantum Theory
Life is too complex for us to put it into boxes labelled biology, chemistry, physics, etc. Life incorporates all those disciplines and more and this popular science book looks at life from two different perspectives. Inwardly, it examines the smallest particles from which all living things are made. Outwardly, it considers our place in the vastness of our universe.
Accused
Series: Ann Perkins Detective Agency, Book 2. Price: Free! Words: 51,900. Language: English. Originally Published: May 25, 2023 by Taid Publishing. Categories: Fiction » Mystery & detective » Women Sleuths, Fiction » Mystery & detective » General, Fiction » Thriller & suspense » General
A client of the Ann Perkins Detective Agency is wanted for a murder he didn't commit, and Ernie Wright is tasked with finding the real killer. What should be routine case takes a turn for the worse when Ernie himself is accused of a different murder. Two murders, two arrests, two innocent people.
Fake Witness
Series: Ann Perkins Detective Agency, Book 1. Price: Free! Words: 73,710. Language: English. Originally Published: May 24, 2023 by Taid Publishing. Categories: Fiction » Mystery & detective » Women Sleuths, Fiction » Mystery & detective » General, Fiction » Thriller & suspense » General
(5.00 from 1 review)
It's hard being a crossdresser in Manchester. When Ernie Wright was made redundant he wanted compensation to the tune of a million pounds. That seemed beyond him until the day he decided to rob a bank. Everything was planned to the smallest detail and he mistakenly thought nothing could go wrong, but the events of that day were to change him in more ways than he could ever imagine.