Richard Washburn Child (1881-1935) was an American author and lawyer. Born in Worcester, Worcester County, Massachusetts, he was the U. S. ambassador to Italy, and was a founding member of the new National Crime Commission. His works include: Jim Hands (1911), The Man in the Shadow (1911), The Blue Wall: A Story of Strangeness and Struggle (1912), Potential Russia (1916), Bodbank (1916), The Vanishing Men (1920), The Velvet Black (1921), The Hands of Nara (1922), Fresh Waters and Other Stories (1924), Battling the Criminal (1925), A Diplomat Looks at Europe (1925), The Writing on the Wall (1929) and The Pitcher of Romance (1930).