Everywhere you look today, there’s murder.

I don’t mean literal crimes taking place, I mean some kind of media.

Be it documentaries, crime fiction, books, podcasts, even Substack.

So, we must know all there is to know, right?

That’s definitely how I felt about murders.

Until I started investigating them.

I’d been a police officer for eighteen years, most of that time as a detective, investigating virtually every crime imaginable, but not murder.

Looking back now, when I joined the murder teams as a Detective Sergeant in 2009, I think I was a bit naïve about what I was signing up for. I’d investigated shootings, stabbings and other serious assaults. I thought the investigative skills would be the same.

Very quickly I realised I couldn’t have been more wrong.

It wasn’t just the crime itself that was different.

It was everything.

The law.

Forensics.

Digital investigation.

Human behaviour.

Investigative strategy.

The pressure.

I realised murder investigation wasn’t simply another type of investigation.

It was something unique.

In total I spent twelve years on the murder teams, and every day taught me something new.

Literally right up until my last day.

I wish I’d had that knowledge when I first started investigating murders.

When I retired from the police, all that knowledge left with me.

But that never sat right with me.

That journey I went on.

The successes I had.

The mistakes I made.

I didn’t want all of that to be forgotten.

That’s a big reason for what came afterwards.

First the books.

Then television.

And now Murder Unpacked.

And that is what will sit at the centre of every article I write and every podcast I record.

Each will look at a well-known case, and occasionally a lesser-known one.

But not simply to recount what happened.

Each will unpack one aspect of murder investigation.

Sometimes we’ll look at the techniques detectives use to solve cases.

Sometimes we’ll explore why investigations go wrong.

Sometimes we’ll examine the difficult decisions detectives face.

Sometimes we’ll look at mistakes. Mine included.

Because if we’re going to understand murder investigation properly, we have to be honest enough to talk about both the successes and the failures.

No single article can explain murder investigation.

But my hope is that, over time, they build into something much bigger.

The goal for every article is simple.

I want you to finish it understanding something you didn’t know before.

If that happens, then Murder Unpacked has done exactly what I set out to do.

I also hope this becomes more than just a place to read or listen.

At the end of every written article you’ll find You’re the Detective.

It’s your opportunity to ask questions, challenge ideas, share your thoughts and discuss the investigation with others who are just as curious about how murders are investigated.

Over time, I hope that community will also help shape where Murder Unpacked goes next.

Because although I spent twelve years investigating murder, I never reached the end of my own learning curve.

Hopefully, each article becomes part of yours.

Let’s begin.