The sea has always held a fascination
for me, probably because I was raised in the coastal city of Portsmouth with
its vibrant waterfront, its great contrasts of modern and historic, its diverse
multicultural population, its international port, its historic dockyard,
fishing fleet and the home of the Royal
Navy. Portsmouth Harbour is one of the busiest in the World and the Solent offers
up every kind of sailing vessel you could wish for from giant container ships
to ferries, naval ships to leisure craft, fishing boats and even a regular hovercraft
service. Once the sea is in your blood it never leaves you and it seemed only
natural for me to turn to it for inspiration for my crime novels.
The great variety of locations provides diversity of scenes within a
novel. Horton can be on a stony or sandy beach, at an expensive marina
or a
rotting boatyard, on the police launch in the Solent or crossing on the
ferry
or the hovercraft from Portsmouth to the Isle of Wight. While
Andy Horton’s patch is Portsmouth, its immediate surrounding area and the Isle
of Wight, and he sails and lives on board a yacht, Art Marvik chooses to travel
by a powerful motor cruiser and his adventures take him further afield to Southampton,
to the bays and marinas of the west country coastline and to the south east coast
to Littlehampton, Eastbourne and Brighton.
In
Fatal
Catch, the latest in the
DI Andy Horton series(number 12), two fishermen haul a gruesome catch – a human severed hand. Who
does it belong to and where is the rest of the body? Is the hand that of missing
criminal Alfie Wright? DI Horton is determined to get to the bottom of the
case, but the deeper he digs, the more lies and secrets he uncovers.
Soon Horton finds himself
immersed in a complex case where everyone has a reason to lie and no one is who
they seem. Assailed by doubts both in his personal and professional life,
Horton desperately tries to keep his emotional feelings under control and his
focus on his work. His instincts tell him to trust no one and believe nothing;
he’s not sure though whether this time he’ll succeed.
Andy Horton's investigations take him to Fareham Quay in the upper reaches of Portsmouth
Harbour and to the tranquil reaches of Chichester Harbour to Thorney Island.
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Fareham Quay featured in DI Andy Horton mystery crime novel, Fatal Catch
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Thorney Island, Chichester Harbour, featured in DI Andy Horton crime novel, Fatal Catch
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Pauline Rowson is the
author of the
DI Andy
Horton series of marine mystery police procedural crime novels and of the new
marine crime series featuring former marine commando,
Art
Marvik as well as standalone thrillers,
In
Cold Daylight and
In For The Kill.
The first in the Art Marvik series
Silent
Running is published by Severn House and is available in hardcover and as
ebook. It will be published in paperback in Spring 2016.
The latest in the DI Andy Horton
series,
Fatal Catch, is published by Severn House in
hardcover. It will be published as an ebook on 20 December 2015.
You can read more about Pauline Rowson and
subscribe to her newsletter on her website
www.rowmark.co.uk. You can also
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