Rick Shefchik was born and raised in Duluth, Minnesota, graduated from Dartmouth College in 1974 and worked at the Duluth News-Tribune for three years. He then spent 26 years at the St. Paul Pioneer Press as a media critic, feature writer/columnist, enterprise reporter and sportswriter.

He left the Pioneer Press in December 2006 to devote his full time to writing novels. “Amen Corner” was published in March 2007 by Poisoned Pen Press, and is the first in a series of sports-related thrillers featuring ex-Minneapolis police detective Sam Skarda. The second, "Green Monster," was published in August 2008.

He lives in Stillwater, Minnesota, with his wife, Barbara, daughter Claire and son David. He's a lifelong golfer and plays guitar with Yesterday’s News, an oldies band he formed with some of his fellow journalists.