Air force veteran Richard P. Reed has launched his first novel The Monozygotic Touch. Photo / Danielle Zollickhofer
Matamata-based air force veteran Richard Reed, 69, could never see the sense in Shakespeare and Dickins when he was in school - over 50 years later he became a writer himself.
Now retired, Richard has just published his first novel - and his whole street is already waiting for a sequel, he says.
The Monozygotic Touch is a thriller murder-mystery set in the Gold Coast where a businessman uses the skills from his time as an elite soldier to solve three unexplained murders and save his business.
"I always wanted to write a book and now as I am retired, I thought I would give it a crack," Richard says.
His favourite writer is Harold Robbins. "He keeps you interested throughout the whole story and lots of his novels were turned into movies. If I was influenced by any writer's style, it'll be his."
Richard grew up in the rural South Island town of Motueka as the youngest of four children to a clerk and a seamstress.
"I didn't put much effort in academics, but I was strong at essay writing - never scored less than 90. I always put a shocker in and I used to look up a big word in the dictionary and built a sentence around it to impress the teacher."
After school at the age of 16, he joined the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF).
"I wanted to get away from home, to be my own man, to be independent."
Richard spent 20 years with the military, in the air force administration and as a recruitment officer. Two of the 20 years he spent in Singapore.
"We were never in any danger. In my 20 years of serving, I never fired a shot in anger, I mostly sat in an office.
"The hardest situation I witnessed was in Kuala Lumpur. A VW has been set on fire by a grenade or rocket launcher and a guy was trapped. I can still see him in the backseat trying to get out."
Although the protagonist in Richard's novel has a military background as well, he says his novel has no autobiographical elements.
In 1977, during his time with the air force, Richard met his first wife who was a civilian typist looking after officer records. Together, they have three children.
"She wanted me to leave the military, so I stopped and worked for three years in real estate. But that was tough on the family, because I had to work lots of weekends."
Leaving real estate, Richard changed careers and started working for the TAB.
"But if I had it my way, I would still be in the air force now."
After 18 years of marriage, Richard and his first wife split up.
While working for the TAB, he met his second wife Judy. She says: "Even when I met him, he said to me 'I'm gonna write a book'. I never thought, he'd go through with it and always said 'Don't be ridiculous!'."
In 2000, Judy and Richard eloped to the Gold Coast of Australia. Richard says: "I am not a romantic person and we both didn't want the big shebang."
After almost 10 years in the racing and betting industry, he had another change of career.
"From managing staff of 120, I went to boots and a lawnmower, being a self-employed gardener. And it was the best move I ever made."
Although Richard retired a couple of years ago, it is just recently that he had to slow down and give up gardening because of a hip replacement.
From Auckland, Judy and Richard moved down to Matamata.
"To be closer to family. My kids and grandkids live in Feilding, Judy's in Auckland, so we wanted to live in the middle."
Together, they have 11 grandchildren aged between 6 months and 13 years. "And now everyday is a weekend."