The inspiration behind THE ROYAL HOTEL MURDERS a DI Andy Horton Mystery

The Royal Hotel Murders by Pauline RowsonLocations are often an inspiration for me for my crime novels and number four in the DI Andy Horton Solent Murder Mystery series, THE ROYAL HOTEL MURDERS is no different. 

It started, not with an hotel but with a wharf of which there are two close to where I live, Kendall’s Wharf and Bedhampton Wharf (although the latter stopped operating during Covid and is now up for sale). Both front on to Langstone Harbour, which is on the eastern side of the coastal city of Portsmouth, the setting for many of my DI Andy Horton Solent Murder Mysteries.


Both wharves deal in shingle and gravel extracted from the sea bed which is then delivered to the wharves and I often see the ships sail up the harbour on the high tide to unload their cargo. This shingle is then used in property and road building.


Dredger unloading - Dead Man's Wharf DI Andy Horton crime novelKendalls Wharf in Portsmouth was the inspiration behind the Inspector Andy Horton crime novel THE ROYAL HOTEL MURDERS and they were extremely helpful with my research allowing me on site and to question the workers. Without giving away the plot I wondered if I could have a body there. I contacted Kendall’s Wharf who were kind enough to spare me the time to explain their operations and show me around. From that visit came further ideas for the plot line.

The Royal Hotel Murders doesn’t start with the discovery of a body though but in ... yes, you've guessed it a hotel!

Perry Jackson and his team are filming a new TV series about wrecks in the Solent and staying at the large and luxurious Royal Hotel on Portsmouth’s seafront.

Shortly after they’ve checked in, Jackson  receives a series of threatening phone calls telling him to watch his back and you’ve been warned. Horton thinks it’s a publicity stunt to promote  the new TV show.

Meanwhile at the Rest Haven Nursing Home,  Mrs Kingsway says she’s been assaulted by an intruder, but there’s no sign of a  break-in. The staff thinks she’s lost her marbles, but her son wants action  from the police.

As if that isn't enough Horton is troubled by a mother's distressed insistence that her son’s fatal car accident on Christmas Eve was not an accident.

When a man in diving gear is found dead in Oldham’s Wharf with several of his fingers missing, the pressure is on. Detective Inspector Andy Horton’s deep in a web of intrigue, deception and corruption that stretches back into the past. Can he, aided by Sergeant Cantelli, find his way back and stop a killer?


It’s difficult to explain where all the threads of this crime novel came from (or indeed any of my crime novels come to that) but I start with an idea usually a location – the wharf in this instance – and begin to ask myself questions: how does it feature in this crime novel? Is a body found there? If so whose? How did it get there? Why was he/she killed? What other pressing cases does Horton have to investigate? Are they linked or are they separate?

Then there is the matter of Horton’s personal and professional life. Horton is still reeling from the startling discovery in THE HORSEA MARINA MURDERS (3) that the disappearance of his mother, Jennifer, thirty years ago was not as he thought, a single mother abandoning her child because she didn’t want a kid in tow, but could be linked to an international criminal.


This crime novel like my others is multi-layered and is available on Amazon Kindle, and in paperback, so why not grab your copy now!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐"Great protagonist and lots of odd turns and fantastic ending. I hope to read many more books from this author." Terry G.


This novel was previously published as Dead Man's Wharf and has been re-titled and re-published with an exciting new title and cover.




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