Russell Atkinson

Award-winning author Russell Atkinson served as an FBI Special Agent for 25 years, where he specialized in high-technology crimes in Silicon Valley. He was the first to investigate Raj Rajaratnam, the high-tech hedge fund manager who was convicted of insider trading in 2011. He was the case agent on the first federal prosecution in California under the Economic Espionage Act. He worked on several kidnapping cases and has arrested murderers and drug dealers. After retiring from the FBI he practiced law. With degrees in mathematics and law he worked for many high-tech firms in the computer industry including IBM, Fairchild Semiconductor, and AOL. He served as President of the American Cryptogram Association and has written extensively on cryptographic topics. He was Head Cryptographer for the movie The Red Machine, which was given a thumbs up by Roger Ebert. Now retired, he lives in Silicon Valley and spends time with his interests: running, geocaching, guitar, cryptography, and, of course, writing.

The Cliff Knowles Mysteries can be enjoyed by anyone who likes a good mystery novel, but geocachers especially enjoy the way geocaching is woven into some of the books. The author is an experienced geocacher. He geocaches under the name THE RAT. He has found over 2500 caches and has placed over 95 caches. He has completed the original Well-Rounded Cacher (The Fizzy Challenge) (GC11E8N) and over 450 favorite points have been awarded to his caches.