Now We Are Dead is a spinoff novel from the bestselling Logan McRae series by Stuart MacBride.

The novel has been described as being "lighter" and "more fun than the violence and misery of MacBride's blacker thrillers".

[1] Detective Sergeant Roberta Steel has been recently demoted from detective chief inspector on account of her planting evidence of child abuse on the computer of a suspected rapist (Jack Wallace), and as a result, he was freed from his sentence.

[2] The story involves Steel and Detective Constable 'Tufty' Quirrel tackling shoplifting crimes in Aberdeen whilst she is still stalking Wallace and accusing him of a series of rapes.

Towards the end of the novel, it is revealed that Wallace was guilty of some of the rapes as he was working in a team of three.