Richard Shears is a freelance journalist, which includes his work as the Australian correspondent for London's Daily Mail newspaper. Shears has covered wars and other issues around the world and written more than twenty books, mainly non-fiction, on such topics as the Azaria Chamberlain case; the life of Devi, the Indian bandit queen; the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior; and America's secret war game sin the Middle East. He has also written extensively on famous criminal cases. In 1995 Shears won a major award as a foreign correspondent in the UK Press Awards.