Body Overboard

Russell Wate is a retired senior homicide detective and has been the senior investigating officer in over 100 major crime enquiries, from homicides to international kidnappings and large-scale paedophile investigations. One of his most high-profile cases was that of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, two ten-year-old girls from Soham, UK, who were murdered by Ian Huntley in 2002. Russell subsequently received the Queen's Police Medal for his work as a detective, in the 2008 Queen's Birthday Honours list. Russell is also well known for his current work relating to safeguarding children and has published several dozen serious case reviews involving domestic homicide and the death of children, where he has established the lessons that can be learnt from these deaths.

Writing crime fiction started as a lockdown 2020 project, and his first novel, Greed is a Powerful Motive, received such positive feedback that it inspired Russell to write three more books in the DCI McFarlane series. The books are written in an authentic manner, with the narrative based on how Russell would have investigated the suspicious deaths, using all the modern-day techniques available, and how he would have presented his findings during the subsequent court case.