Visit my website at www.rowmark.co.uk for details of all my crime novels

ROYAL Navy bomb disposal experts carried out a controlled explosion on a Second World War mortar found on Shanklin seafront on Monday .The Isle of Wight police cordoned off  Hope Beach, near Shanklin, while the Portsmouth-based Southern Diving Unit 2 carried out the explosion. Sandown Bay, Isle of Wight looking towards Hope Beach and Shanklin A Royal Navy spokesman said discoveries of this type of device on that stretch of beach was a common occurrence and it's not only there but anywhere along our coastline.  The Solent was a huge dumping ground for armaments from the Second World War, not to mention a target area for the German Luftwaffe. I mention this in Dead Man's Wharf   the fourth in the DI Andy Horton series, which is set in Portsmouth.  And there's a new angle on the Second World War armaments story in the DI Horton crime novel I am currently writing (number eight).  There's always something happening around these water...

Round & About Magazine is offering the chance to win a Signed Copy of Dead Man's Wharf in its May edition. Dead Man's Wharf is the fourth in the DI Andy Horton crime series. Horton and Cantelli are called to a nursing home where an elderly resident, suffering from dementia, claims she's been attacked by an intruder. Horton is ready to dismiss it as senile ramblings until he discovers that her room-mate has died, the dead woman's belongings are missing and her son, convicted for armed robbery, has been found dead in his cell. As if this isn't enough, Horton also has to deal with a series of threatening telephone calls to a television personality, and a mother's conviction that her son's death on Christmas Eve was no accident. Soon, to his surprise, Horton finds he is caught up in a complex investigation that has far-reaching international implications. With the pressure on to find a killer, and hampered by his belief that his bosses are lying to...

Read an e Book Week 6 - 12 March 2011 is  here again and although the purpose of Read an E Book Week is the same as when it was first devised, i.e. to encourage people to read e books this year also sees it celebrating the fortieth anniversary since the first e book was created. Amazing? Yes. You can read all about it on the Read an E Book Week web site. For Read an e Book Week  visitors to my web site will be able to download Chapter One of Dead Man's Wharf which is published in mass market paperback on 11 March. It is already available in hardcover, as an e book, on Kindle and as an unbridged audio book. Horton and Cantelli are called to a nursing home where an elderly resident, suffering from dementia, claims she's been attacked by an intruder. Horton is ready to dismiss it as senile ramblings until he discovers that her room-mate has died, the dead woman's belongings are missing and her son, convicted for armed robbery, has been found dead in his cell. So...

Read an e Book Week 6 - 12 March 2011 is coming round again and some might ask whether we need a week set aside to promote the benefits of reading an e book because they are now so popular.  But although the purpose of  Read an E Book Week is the same as when it was first devised, i.e. to encourage people to read e books this year also sees it celebrating the fortieth anniversary since the first e book was created. Amazing?  Yes.  You can read all about it on the Read an E Book Week web site. I have supported this initiative for the last two years and am again supporting it this year.  Visitors to my web site (and here) will be able to download  Chapter One of Dead Man's Wharf which is published in mass market paperback on 11 March.  It is already available in hardcover, as an e book, on Kindle and as an unbridged audio book. I hope you enjoy the tatster of Dead Man's Wharf  .  Plus check out the Read an E Book Wee...

I received my author copies of the latest DI Andy Horton marine mystery to be published as an unabridged audio book yesterday and it looks and sounds great. Dead Man’s Wharf is the fourth in the marine mystery series of crime novels featuring Inspector Andy Horton and is set in Portsmouth and the Solent area. It was chosen as the Best of British Crime Fiction by The Book Depository and given a star rated review by USA reviewer, Kirkus. It is also available as an e book, in hardcover and trade paperback (although I think they have sold out of the hardcover and trade paperback) but it will be published as a mass market paperback on 11 March 2011. Dead Man’s Wharf is published by Isis Publishing , the World’s leading publisher of unabridged audio books, who have also bought the rights to the fifth in the series, Blood on the Sand , due to be published as an audio book and digital download later in the year. Dead Man’s Wharf has been released in CD and cassette form and as a ...

I wrote the following article for the Crime Writers' Association (CWA) Debut Dagger Award and thought it might interest readers of my blog.  The Debut Dagger is open to anyone who has not yet had a novel published commercially. All shortlisted entrants will receive a generous selection of crime novels and professional assessments of their entries. The first prize is £700. The 2011 Competition will close on 5th February 2011. If you fancy a stab at it, and the chance to be a published crime writer, you can now submit the opening chapter(s) – up to 3000 words – and a short synopsis of your proposed crime novel.  More details are on the Crime Writers' Association web site. Winning the Debut Dagger doesn’t guarantee you’ll get published. But it does mean your work will be seen by leading agents and top editors, who have signed up over twenty winners and shortlisted Debut Dagger competitors. Choosing a location for the setting of a crime novel  by Pauline Rowso...

The editors of Crimespree Magazine are seeking nominations for this year’s Crimespree Awards. Crimespree Magazine is based in America but the Internet obviously makes it International. It covers mystery crime novels and what's happening in the mystery community.  Now Crimespree have invited people to choose as many as five mystery or crime novels in each of three categories: • Favorite Book of the Year • Favorite First Book of the Year • Best Book in an Ongoing Series All novels must have been published in 2009. So I thought as my marine mystery Inspector Horton crime novels are also published in the USA if anyone would like to nominate one I'd be chuffed to pieces. However, as they state that novels must be published in 2009  Dead Man's Wharf  seems to fit the bill, and it was given a star rated review by the American reviewer, Kirkus and hailed as 'an'exemplary police procedural.' If you'd like to vote for Dead Man's Wharf or any of yo...

E books have been around for some years. I forget just how many but my own business books and novels have been available as e books and still are, with the latest Dead Man's Wharf being released as an e book just before Christmas. (You can find all my e books by clicking on the relevant book page on my official web site or at e book.com .  They're probably also on sale elsewhere, but I'll leave you to hunt for that, if you wish to).  Anyway, a press release from Amazon recently claimed that its Christmas Day e book sales beat the print sales.  Now, I just couldn't let this pass without commenting on it because it is one of those press releases which says absolutely nothing but which was highly successful. Why?  Because: 1. It was timed to perfection - when there was so little news about that it was guaranteed getting in somewhere. 2. It achieved its desired objective of getting into print and on to the Internet (even I'm blogging about it!)....

The trade paperback version of Dead Man's Wharf is being published by Severn House (that's the larger sized paperback) on 28 February 2010, which happens to be my birthday!  Dead Man's Wharf   is the fourth Inspector Horton Marine Mystery Crime Novel. Horton and Cantelli are called to a nursing home where a resident claims she’s been attacked by an intruder. Ready to dismiss it as senile ramblings, Horton then discovers that her room-mate has died, the dead woman’s belongings are missing and her son, convicted for armed robbery, has been found dead in his cell. Soon Horton is caught up in a complex investigation that has far-reaching international implications. It received an excellent review in the USA and hardcover copies have sold out in the UK, with only a handful still available from on line book retailers and imported from the States. Even I can't get any copies from my publisher so unfortunately I can't sell any signed copies.  But there will be ...

I visited Ventnor Library today, and for those of you who have no idea where Ventnor is it’s on the beautiful Isle of Wight (IOW), which is situated across the Solent from Portsmouth, Hampshire, England, where Inspector Horton of my marine mystery crime novels does his best to catch villains and make the streets a safer place for law abiding citizens.  And no, there wasn't a body in the library, at least not a dead one but lots of very lively people making use of the facilities including a group of children who were listening intently to a story being told them. The Isle of Wight features in one of my crime thriller novels, In For The Kill and in my new Inspector Horton, Blood on the Sand , which will be published by Severn House on 26 February 2010. And just in case anyone from Southampton or Lymington is reading this blog then I had better quickly add that the IOW is also situated across the Solent from both Southampton and Lymington. Anyway, to get ...

My latest crime novel Dead Man’s Wharf was published in America on 1 July 2009 in hardcover. I'm delighted that it immediately received an excellent review from Kirkus Book Reviews. Kirkus Reviews is published 24 times annually, with nearly 5,000 book reviews each year. It is one of the most prestigious names in the publishing industry and is read by publishers, libraries, agents, film and television studio producers, as well as commercial booksellers. I've put the link to their web site here but what I didn't realise is that it's a subscription only web site, so you won't be able to read the review. That might not be a bad thing as it does rather give the plot away. Here, however, is what they say about Dead Man's Wharf: ‘Rowson turns out an exemplary procedural with the requisite plot twists, double-crosses and all loose ends tied up neatly in a sailor’s knot.’ Dead Man’s Wharf was published in hardcover in the UK in April 2009. It is the fourth in the mar...

I've just heard from my publisher that DEAD MAN'S WHARF, the fourth and latest in the marine mystery crime series featuring my rugged and flawed detective, Inspector Andy Horton, has been given a *starred* review by the American review magazine, Kirkus. I'll put a link to the Kirkus web site when the review goes live, which will be (I am told) in a couple of weeks time. But be warned, their synopsis does rather give away a lot of the plot, so I won't reprint it here because I don't want to spoil it for those of you who want to read the novel. This, however, is their summing up of DEAD MAN'S WHARF. 'Rowson turns out an exemplary procedural with the requisite plot twists, double-crosses and all loose ends tied up neatly in a sailor’s knot.' Kirkus (USA) It's important for new authors to get positive reviews because it takes time in a crowded and competitive marketplace for readers to discover your work. These positive reviews help to raise the author...

I will be signing copies of my latest Marine Mystery, Dead Man’s Wharf and the new paperback edition of Deadly Waters (as well as my other crime novels, of course,) at The Hayling Island Bookshop on Saturday 20 June 2009 between 11am and 12 noon as part of the celebrations for Independent Booksellers Week. Dead Man’s Wharf was recently published in hard cover and features my rugged detective, Portsmouth-based Inspector Andy Horton. If you are in the area and get the chance then do come along and say 'hello.' No ticket is necessary, just turn up on the day. Independent Booksellers Week was first introduced in 2008 and celebrates the best in local independent bookshops around the UK with a series of events. It runs from 15 to 22 June. For further information and directions please contact The Hayling Island Bookshop on 023 9246 6620 or visit their website at http://www.haylingislandbookshop.co.uk/

I've started a discussion topic on one of the groups I belong to on Facebook- the suspense/thriller writers group - on the importance of branding for books? Please feel free to join the discussion if you wish. Here is the link below to Facebook or you can comment here on my blog if you prefer. http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?topic=14849&uid=2397748813#/topic.php?uid=2397748813&topic=14849&ref=mf Having worked in marketing for many years I’m no stranger to the subject of branding. Branding helps create and reinforce an identity for a product or service and places it in the minds of the customer, thereby boosting sales. With books the branding can include: · the book itself – its style, genre, quality of writing · the packaging - the cover design, the size of the book, the title, typography, the quality of the paper · the marketing – where the book is advertised, what kind of advertising is undertaken, the images used, the style of copy writing, the marketing message ·...

Here it is, the jacket cover for the NEW Inspector Horton Marine Mystery - Dead Man's Wharf - the fourth in the series. It will be published on 30 April 2009. It looks pretty sinister to me and I hope you like it. Let me know what you think. Below is a preview of what's to come in Dead Man's Wharf. We'll be posting an extract from the book on my web site in due course. For now you can read extracts of Tide of Death , Deadly Waters , featuring Inspector Horton, and of In Cold Daylight and In For The Kill. We'll also be adding an extract of The Suffocating Sea - the third Inspector Horton - soon. Dead Man's Wharf Horton and Cantelli are called to a nursing home where an elderly resident, suffering from dementia, claims she's been attacked by an intruder. Horton is ready to dismiss it as senile ramblings until he discovers that her room-mate has died, the dead woman's belongings are missing and her son, convicted for armed robbery, has been found dead in ...

I’ve just received from my publisher my copies of the Large Print version of Deadly Waters, which is now on sale. It looks really good and I hope it enables people who are visually impaired (sadly a growing number) to enjoy this marine mystery crime novel. Deadly Waters is already available as a talking book and in hardback and trade paperback and will shortly be published as a mass market paperback with a new jacket cover in April 2009. This and all my marine mystery crime and thriller novels are available as e books. The mass market version of Deadly Waters in the UK is the normal paperback size rather than the large paperback size and I know that it will please many of my readers who have already bought the mass market versions of Tide of Death , In Cold Daylight and In For The Kill . It will retail at £6.99 and is available for pre order from bookshops and on line. The Suffocating Sea , the third DI Andy Horton Marine Mystery, will be available in the large paperback version in...

It's been book signing week as no doubt you've gathered from my previous posts. Hythe Library on Tuesday, the Plessey Retirement Association yesterday, and today I've been in my local bookshop, The Hayling Island Bookshop, to do another signing on the publication of my marine mystery, Deadly Waters. It went really well and I was delighted to meet up with so many of my readers and meet new ones. Being on home ground it's a more relaxing signing than on strange ground where you're always wondering if anyone will turn up. There was a packed audience at the Plessey Retirement Association yesterday, a lovely and lively crowd and they bought tons of books - God bless them. They meet every month and organise lots of social events. I think it's a great idea and it seems so unusual in today's climate where businesses seem to be smaller and people no longer retire after working for one company for many years because we all hop jobs so much now. And, generally, when ...