Richard W. Wise is a former Alinsky-style community organizer. In the 1970s, he ran projects in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. In the 1980s, he became a goldsmith and received his degree as a Graduate Gemologist. His latest book, The Dawning: 31,000 BC, is set 33,000 years ago in Southern France.

His first book, Secrets Of The Gem Trade, The Connoisseur's Guide to Precious Gemstones, was published in 2003 became a critically acclaimed best seller and is now considered a classic. The vastly expanded and updated second edition appeared in 2016. His first novel, The French Blue (2010), a novel of the 17th-century gem trade, tells the exciting backstory of the notorious Hope Diamond. The French Blue won a 2011 International Book Award in Historical Fiction. He is also the author of Redlined: A Novel of Boston. Set in the gogo 1970s, Redlined tells the story of how a Boston neighborhood took on the big Boston banks and won.