What's on in June 2020

June kicks off with the publication of the crime novel I know many DI Andy Horton fans have been waiting for  A DEADLY WAKE, which reveals the truth behind the disappearance of  Andy's mother Jennifer, when he was a child. 

A DEADLY WAKE is published in paperback, e book, Kindle and Kobo (2 June 2020).  The rugged and flawed Portsmouth based detective has a new mystery to solve which takes him on an emotional and startling journey.

A DEADLY WAKE also happens to be my twenty-first mystery crime novel.  There are fifteen in the DI Andy Horton series; three in the Art Marvik mystery thriller series; two standalone thrillers, and the first in my new 1950 mystery series introducing Inspector Ryga in DEATH IN THE COVE. Number two will be published later in 2020.

Aside from that in June 2020 there is very little else going on in my world, not so in the world at large with all the upheaval and tragedy of Covid -19.  But as I write this, in England, the lock down has eased and shops are beginning to open.  I can still take a lovely coastal walk providing me with inspiration for my crime novels but as yet am unable to travel on the ferry across the Solent to the Isle of Wight but it won't be long before I can once again visit the lovely island where Andy Horton is often called out to investigate a crime. 

Here's a photograph of just one part of the stunning coastline which is featured in A KILLING COAST.   It's the glorious Woody Bay where Andy is hot on the trail of a killer as always and risking his life.

As there are no talks planned for June, or indeed the rest of the year, because of you know what (Covid -19 if you haven't guessed) I thought I would feature some of those talks here on my blog which were recorded earlier.Look out for them.  

 

Here is a link to the first video I'm featuring from a talk I gave to  Romsey U3A way back in 2015 on revising and researching my crime novels.

There are plenty of up to date videos to watch and keep you amused on my You Tube Channel

That's it for June aside from the fact I am not working on second revisions of number three in the Inspector Ryga series.

Hope all my lovely readers enjoy A DEADLY WAKE.

Inspector Andy Horton returns to his desk in Portsmouth CID after a tedious computer course in London to find there has been a series of highway robberies in his absence and an arson attack at the sailing club where the Chief Constable keeps his boat.  What’s more the Chief’s boat is one of three that have been set alight and he’s demanding action.  But when the fingerprint bureau phone Horton to tell him the prints of an unknown man found dead in a log cabin in a secluded bay on the Isle of Wight match those of someone he met six months previously, Horton’s priorities are clear. He travels to the island to identify the body but what greets him is totally unexpected.  As he follows the trail of the dead man, he uncovers some startling revelations into his own mother’s past and the truth behind her disappearance over thirty years ago.

Pop over to Goodreads to see all my mystery novels or leave a review

Borrow the audio book of DEATH IN THE COVE on Hoopla

If you haven't listened to my #audiobook DEATH IN THE COVE then you can borrow it through your library on @hooplaDigital Go here to listen to DEATH IN THE COVE, compared to Ian Rankin, Peter James and Peter May, so exciting! https://t.co/ABaimOYzEq pic.twitter.com/RztjvgZ2G2

— PaulineRowson (@PaulineRowson) May 28, 2020

From Inspiration and ideas to plot lines, how to write a crime novel by Pauline Rowson...

As there are no talks planned for the foreseeable future, because of you know what, (Covid -19) I thought I would feature some of my recorded talks here on my website. This one was taken from a talk I gave at Sandhurst Library, Surrey in 2014 and my most watched video on my You Tube Channel.

From Inspiration and ideas to plot lines, how to write a crime novel by Pauline Rowson

DI Andy Horton uncovers some startling revelations in no. 15 A DEADLY WAKE

The latest in the Inspector Andy Horton crime series, A DEADLY WAKE, number 15 in the series, is now published in paperback on Amazon and is available as an e book on Kindle and from other booksellers from 2 June 2020. The rugged and flawed Portsmouth detective has a new mystery to solve which ultimately leads him to discovering the truth behind his mother's disappearance over thirty years ago.

Readers have long been desperate to know the truth behind the disappearance of Andy's mother when he was a child of ten and now at last all is revealed.

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Behind the character - Inspector Andy Horton

The flawed and rugged detective, Inspector Andy Horton

There will soon be fifteen in the Inspector Andy Horton series of police procedural crime novels. Number fifteen A DEADLY WAKE (pub date 2 June 2020) may well be the final one ... or possibly not!

Andy Horton was first introduced in 2006 in TIDE OF DEATH. It is Horton’s second day back in Portsmouth CID following an eight month suspension on a charge of gross misconduct. Determined to prove his innocence of the charges that have wrecked his career and his marriage Horton finds his personal investigations sidelined when the naked body of a man is found on the beach. Aided by Sergeant Cantelli, Horton sets out to find a killer who will stop at nothing to cover his tracks.

Since then Andy, along with Barney Cantelli and the rest of the CID and Major Crime Team, have had many investigations to undertake and readers have learned more about Andy and his troubled childhood. I have grown very fond of Andy, as I know many readers have. He is a likeable, troubled soul with his heart in the right place and yet doesn't always do the right thing. Do any of us?

 

 Andy Horton is an instinctive rather than an intellectual cop with a highly formed sense of justice. Raised in a succession of children's homes he finds he can never quite trust. He is tough and resilient, but deeply empathetic. A dry sense of humour is the key to his investigative approach. It’s how he keeps people at arm’s length and stays detached from the crimes he investigates. His greatest strength is his ability to put himself in a victim’s shoes, to imagine events from their perspective (even the moments up to their death), making leaps of deduction few would be able to. And he’s most often right.

Horton is especially tough on bullies, or people who abuse their power or position, as they remind him of those in the children’s homes. He feels a duty of care to the victims of the crimes he investigates and often feels he’s the only person looking out for them; the only one who can bring the guilty to justice so that the dead can rest. No one cared about him when he was a child; he won’t let that happen to anyone else.

Read more about DI Andy Horton and the mystery novels

Why is the crime genre is so popular?

Crime fiction is one of the best selling genres and the most borrowed from public libraries. So what is it that makes crime fiction so popular?

Well apart from being a cracking good read, in crime fiction we know that, generally speaking, justice will be done and the case will be resolved and that doesn’t always happen in real life.

In crime fiction the villain either gets caught or gets his/her comeuppance but in real life the evil and manipulative, the guilty can get away with it as in the case of the unsolved murder in my own family in 1959 that of my great aunt, Martha Giles.

Crime fiction though can give us a resolution. It can also give us an insight into what makes people tick. One of the reasons I believe crime fiction is popular is because people are fascinated by human behaviour.  Sometimes we are warmed by the actions of others and at other times horrified and apalled by it.  I am interested in personalities, behaviour and motivation. What is it that makes people do the things they do?

I also enjoy a puzzle to solve, a crime to investigate and a mystery to unravel. When reading a crime novel I like to pit my wits against the protagonist or the detective and see if I can solve the crime before he or she can.

When I start to write a new crime novel whether featuring DI Andy Horton; Art Marvik or and my hero in my 1950 set series with Scotland Yard detective, Inspector Ryga I don't know who did it, where or when until I am about half way through, sometimes even later than that.   As the characters begin to develop and their personalities and motivations become clearer it is only then that I begin to unravel the crime.

Crime fiction covers so many facets of human nature. The same goes for true crime. It’s a kind of voyeurism, the ghoul factor that causes people to stand and gawp at an accident or incident. Me though, I’m a real coward. I run a mile from reading true crime. Give me crime fiction any day where I can see that justice is served and my hero triumphs!

 There are fifteen novels in the  DI Andy Horton series with A DEADLY WAKE published on 2 June 2020 in paperback, as an ebook and on Amazon Kindle.


As DI Andy Horton follows the trail of a man found dead in a log cabin on the Isle of Wight, he uncovers some startling revelations into his own mother’s past and the truth behind her disappearance over thirty years ago.


 "DI Andy Horton is a fascinating man to get to know, and his thoughtful approach to detection is a pleasure to read.” Publishers Weekly (Lethal Waves)

"Rowson’s plotting is deftly layered, and she successfully captures the mood of her protagonist’s tortured journey.” Library Journal (Undercurrent)
 

In September 2019 the first in my new crime series set in 1950 England, featuring Scotland Yard detective Inspector Alun Ryga DEATH IN THE COVE was published in paperback, as an ebook on Amazon Kindle and as an audio book.

When the body of a man wearing a pinstriped suit is found in a secluded bay on Portland Island, Dorset Scotland Yard detective, Inspector Alun Ryga is sent to investigate.


'Death in the Cove is a great read and one I recommend to any crime fans.' BH Living Magazine







There are also three Art Marvik mystery thrillers and I am the author of two standalone thrillers, In Cold Daylight and In For the Kill.  My crime novels are available from any bookshop and can also be loaned from UK, USA and Commonwealth libraries.

Joys and agonies of writing first drafts - a fun look at the rollercoaster emotions

The inspiration behind DI Andy Horton crime novel A KILLING COAST

On location with DI Andy Horton in A KILLING COAST

DI Andy Horton mystery novel no. 7 A KILLING COAST is available in paperback,  as an e book on Amazon Kindle, Kobo, Apple and Google books.

'Multi-layered, twisted, and complex...a surprising conclusion and a satisfying read.' Booklist

When a body is found floating in the sea off Portsmouth harbour, Detective Inspector Horton initially judges it to be an accidental death. Soon though, to his dismay, he discovers he’s got it very wrong. Accused of being incompetent by his boss, and with the head of the Major Crime Team coming down heavily on him, Horton wonders if he’s allowed his ongoing investigation into the disappearance of his mother over thirty years ago to cloud his judgement. With no clear motive for the murder, Horton is sucked into a baffling investigation that he is determined to resolve despite the odds. Not only does he need to find a brutal killer, but Horton now has to prove to himself, and others, that he is still up to the job.

Read about the inspiration behind A KILLING COAST

The page 69 test and an extract from DI Andy Horton, SHROUD OF EVIL

Applying the Page 69 test to DI Andy Horton mystery Shroud of Evil

The  first I heard of the page 69 test was when a member of the public approached me  in a bookshop where I was doing a book signing and said she always applied it  when deciding which crime novel to purchase. She didn’t buy one of my novels so  I’d obviously failed to reach her exacting standards, whatever they were.


I browsed the Internet to find out who was  responsible for this particular form of literary torture. The answer was the  writer Marshall McLuhan championed more recently by John  Sutherland in How to Read a Novel: A User’s Guide. Do we  really need instructions on how to read a novel?

I turned to Page 69 in Inspector Andy Horton Shroud of Evil and duly applied the test. This is the scene between DI Andy Horton, my rugged and flawed detective, and  the pathologist, the petite, auburn haired and feisty Dr Gaye Clayton when she  is informing Horton that the victim was killed with a ….. no, hang on, that  will spoil it for those who want to read the novel (if I’ve passed the test).

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How to kill your victim in crime fiction

Murder methods - with DI Andy Horton in SHROUD OF EVIL

Thankfully traumatic injuries and deaths caused by crossbows are a rarity. But it was a means of murder I have used in Inspector Andy Horton crime novel, SHROUD OF EVIL, number eleven in the series.

SHROUD OF EVIL is available in paperback, ebook, Kindle, Kobo and Apple books as well as an audio book.

In SHROUD OF EVIL, DI Andy Horton is assigned the case of a missing person: Jasper Kenton, a  private investigator.  Irritated at being assigned such a low-ranking investigation, Horton suspects the disappearance has a mundane explanation but when Kenton’s car turns up, and a shocking discovery is made, things turn serious.

I'm not saying who is murdered by a crossbow and hope I haven't spoiled it for you, I'll say no more about the novel, but here is what I uncovered from my research into crossbow shooting and pathology.

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How to overcome the tricky bits in plots

Thinking through plots of crime novels and overcoming the tricky bits

Being a writer isn't just about pounding away at a keyboard or scribbling on paper, much of an author's time is spent thinking and what better way to do that than to go on a long walk and at the same time benefit from the exercise.

I also often combine my walks with research not only along the coastal paths and harbours where I live and where my DI Andy Horton crime novels are set, Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight, but also in other areas where the Art Marvik mystery thrillers are based, and the Inspector Ryga 1950 set mysteries, Dorset in DEATH IN THE COVE and Newhaven in East Sussex in DEATH IN THE HARBOUR (pub date November 2020).

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See what's in store for DI Andy Horton in DEAD PASSAGE (no. 14)

Dead Passage - DI Andy Horton 14 "All the juicy ingredients that make a good story."