Russell Wate

Russell is a very experienced, now retired senior homicide detective. He worked as the senior investigating officer in over 100 major crime cases, not only murders but also international kidnapping cases and large-scale paedophile enquiries. He has received 14 commendations from judges and chief police officers for some of these cases. He is best known both nationally and Internationally for his work on safeguarding but also in relation to the investigation into the deaths of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman - the two ten-year-old girls who were murdered by Ian Huntley in 2002. He is also well-known both in the UK and abroad for his work relating to the investigation of child deaths and safeguarding children. He completed a doctorate where his thesis was on, The Investigation of Child Death: a balanced approach between sensitivity and the investigative mindset’. It has been published and read widely. A number of years ago when my father and I visited the British Library, we went to the India section, where we researched details of my great grandfather, Solomon Kyte. He was a very senior officer in the Baroda (now Vadodara) state police at the turn of the twentieth century. Whilst doing this research, I came across a case from 1874 involving the attempted murder of Robert Phayre (the British resident), where Malhar Rao Gaekwad (member of the royal family) attempted to poison Robert Phayre by putting arsenic and diamond dust in his sherbet. Robert had twigged that Malhar Rao Gaekwad was emptying the Baroda state bank accounts. I thought what an interesting case to put into the modern day and use modern day investigative techniques. it was almost fifteen years before I had an opportunity in terms of time to sit down and focus on writing the novel. This opportunity came during the first lockdown and I actually wrote the first draft in eight weeks spending about two hours a day, as I still had my other safeguarding work this was all of the time I had available. I did though in those fifteen years know pretty much what I want to write about in this story and also have some idea what subsequent stories in the series could cover.