Russell Wate is a world renowned and royalty honoured, senior homicide detective. He served in every rank as a detective and was the SIO in over 100 major crime enquiries, including homicides, international kidnappings and large-scale paedophile investigations. He has received fourteen commendations from Judges and Chief officers. His most high-profile case was that of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, two ten-year-old girls from Soham, who were murdered by Ian Huntley in 2002. Russell subsequently received the Queen’s Police Medal for his work as a detective. He was the national policing lead for investigating child deaths and has spoken all over the world in relation to these investigations.

Russell is also well known for his current work relating to safeguarding children and has published numerous serious case reviews involving the death of children, where he has established the lessons that can be learnt from these deaths. The most recent one is the Sara Sharif review. He has a master’s in criminology from Teesside and a Doctorate in Criminology from Middlesex University.

Writing crime fiction started as a Covid lockdown project, and his first novel, Greed is a Powerful Motive, received such positive feedback that it inspired Russell to write four more books in the DCI McFarlane series. The books are written in an authentic manner based on how Russell would have investigated the suspicious deaths, using all the modern-day techniques available.