Dad who spent 14 years writing book becomes bestseller 11 years later thanks to daughter's TikTok

A father-of-three has become a bestselling author more than a decade after publishing his first novel thanks to his daughter's ingenious plan. Lloyd Devereux Richards, 74, from New York, started writing his book Stone Maidens in the late 1990s before having it published by Thomas & Mercer in November 2012.

However, the thriller did not gain much traction until his daughter, Marguerite Richards, decided to start a TikTok account on her dad's behalf 11 years later, promoting his novel. The book was reportedly inspired by a series of crimes that occurred in the mid-1970s while Lloyd attended law school at Indiana University.