William Russell

Born around 1806 and dying in 1876, he was an English writer whose personal history remains unusually hard to trace. Later scholars have described him as one of the more elusive figures in Victorian fiction, with much of his early life still uncertain.

He is best remembered for pioneering "police memoir" or early detective stories, sometimes publishing as Waters or Thomas Waters. He also wrote sea adventures under the name Lieutenant Warneford, R.N., along with legal stories and other popular fiction for 19th-century readers.

Part of his fascination today comes from that mix of influence and mystery: he helped establish important storytelling patterns in crime fiction, yet many details about the person behind the books are still unclear.