Featured crime novel of the month - FOOTSTEPS ON THE SHORE - DI Andy Horton Read an extract

For me, when choosing a new novel to read, and one by a writer previously unknown to me, I will read the blurb on the back cover, then turn to the first page. From there I will decide whether or not it is my cup of tea. I apply the Page 1 Test as opposed to the Page 69 Test.(For those of you who prefer the Page 69 Test you'll find examples of it here on my blog for some of my Inspector Andy Horton crime novels and my Art Marvik mysteries.)

But here I thought I would relay the blurb and the extract from page 1. for Inspector Andy Horton police procedural, FOOTSTEPS ON THE SHORE, number six in the series of currently 13 novels, set in March. FOOTSTEPS ON THE SHORE is one of my favourites in the DI Andy Horton series. I hope it is (might be) yours).

Friday the thirteenth begins badly for DI Andy Horton when he wakes to find his Harley has been vandalized and his boss, DCI Lorraine Bliss, has returned early from her secondment to HQ. Then, convicted murderer, Luke Felton, released on licence, is reported missing and a decomposed corpse is washed up in Portsmouth harbour. But before Horton can get a grip on either case, he’s called to a house where a woman he’d only met the day before has been brutally murdered. Is missing Luke Felton the prime suspect, or is it his body in the mud of the harbour? Horton is under pressure to get results, but things are about to get much worse for the beleaguered detective …

Page 1. Extract – Footsteps on the Shore

 
Friday 13 March

‘Where is everyone?’ Inspector Andy Horton swept into the CID room at Portsmouth station and addressed the wiry, dark-haired figure leaning back in his chair, chewing gum and tapping a pencil thoughtfully on his chin.
‘You’re looking at him,’ Sergeant Cantelli answered, throwing the pencil down and sitting up.
Horton frowned. ‘And DC Walters?’
‘Probably in the canteen. Must be all of an hour since he last ate, and you know how faint he gets if he has to go too long without food.’ Cantelli smiled, obviously expecting one in return, but Horton wasn’t in the mood. Cantelli’s expression darkened. ‘What’s wrong, Andy? You look as though you’d like to commit murder.’
‘I would, and of the mindless moron who did this.’ He thrust a piece of paper into Cantelli’s hand. On it was a drawing of a diagonal cross with a broken circle etched above it.
‘What’s it mean?’ asked Cantelli, puzzled, turning it this way and that to study it.
‘No idea, but some idiot thought it a huge joke to scratch it on my Harley.’
Cantelli’s head shot up and his dark eyes widened. ‘Blimey, no wonder you’re in a foul mood. Who would do that?’
‘I intend to find out.’ Horton waltzed through to his office, wrenching off his leather biker’s jacket and slinging it on the coat stand. ‘And when I do I’ll string him up by the balls.’
‘It’s not a Hell’s Angel emblem, is it? Harleys and all that,’ asked Cantelli, following him.
‘A Hell’s Angel wouldn’t deface a Harley, not even if he hated my guts. He’d scratch that symbol on my face or tattoo it on my private parts.’
‘Perhaps it doesn’t mean anything and it’s just some sicko’s idea of fun.’
‘Well, I’m not laughing.’

"Horton presses on to clear up a skein of crime as tangled as one of the harbour’s ancient fishing nets. Rowson’s latest should please both Andy Horton fans and puzzle aficionados. " Kirkus

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The Inspector Andy Horton crime novels in order

Available in paperback, as an ebook, on Amazon Kindle and on Kobo in Large Print and as unabridged audio book narrated by Gordon Griffin.  Also available for loan in libraries in the UK, Commonwealth and the USA.