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

I have another meeting this morning at Portsmouth Library to progress the Crime & the City event - Portsmouth CSI on 6 November 2010.  This is my little brainchild and I am delighted that it is being organised by Portsmouth Library, the Hayling Island Bookshop and me, of course, though I must say that most of the hard work is being done by the library, for which I am extremely grateful. I've got some great crime writers lined up as well as the real head of the Scenes of Crime Portsmouth and the library have been working hard on finding other speakers. Today I'll find out who else is coming along to the event because we hope to have some 'experts' from Portsmouth University criminology department. The event is open to everyone and anyone: those who love reading crime fiction, those who love writing it  and those who are fascinated by how the police work.  More to follow later including speakers, and times but if this sounds like your thing pencil it on yo...

Congratulations to The Hayling Island Bookshop, my local independent bookshop, which has been voted by the Academy of British Book Awards as one of the UK’s best independent bookshops. The store is the South Region winner to go forward to the shortlist for the prestigious Independent Bookshop of the Year Award. Bookshop Owner, Marie Telford is thrilled to be on the shortlist for a “Nibbie”. The bookshop runs a range of book events working in partnership with different organisations including the Portsmouth Schools Library Service and the Hampshire Public Library Service. In 2008 the shop supported events for over 3000 people with authors including yours truly, Terry Pratchett, Anne Widdecombe, Ian Whybrow, Kate Mosse and Derek Landy. Marie Telford and her husband Colin are also very active in my local community sponsoring and organising the Hayling Island Scarecrow Festival. Well done and best of luck in the finals, which are tonight. Fingers crossed.

On Saturday 20 June 2009, as part of the celebrations for Independent Booksellers Week , I will be signing copies of my latest Inspector Horton Marine Mystery crime novels, Deadly Waters and Dead Man's Wharf at my local independent bookshop, The Hayling Island Bookshop at 11am - all welcome. Independent Booksellers Week was first launched last year as a celebration of independent bookselling . Over 350 booksellers participated in a range of activities and events throughout the week. This year it runs from 15 th to 22 nd June and there will again be a number of exciting events and book signings in the UK in independent bookshops. Before that though I've got lots of speaking engagements and book signings lined up. You can see them here on my blog (scroll down and see them on the right hand side) or you can view them on my official web site. I've also just been invited on to Wight FM to talk about my crime novels. In For The Kill , a fast-paced, action-packed thriller ...

On Saturday 13 September, the mighty Terry Pratchett is to grace this small Island off the South Coast of England (Hampshire) with his presence. He comes to us courtesy of our only bookshop, The Hayling Island Bookshop. It is all part of his publicity tour to launch his new novel, Nation. He is signing copes of his book in the smallest bookshop in England, Hayling Island, and in the largest bookshop, Waterstone's, Piccadilly on the same day. A helicopter is to bring him here and then fly him to London about eighty miles from Hayling. Over 200 tickets have been sold but many more people than 200 will show up. I shall be on hand to help Colin and Marie Telford, who own the bookshop, and who have been very supportive of me and my books which are set in the Solent area. And given that our little village is just that, 'little' I'm not sure where everybody will go! Still, the deli next door to the bookshop should do well with their coffees to go. Hopefully, I'll get som...

It's been a busy week. Not only is it Independent Booksellers Week, which I'm supporting, but I've also had a couple of speaking engagements. Gave a talk to a delightful audience at Hythe Library on Wednesday afternoon after popping into the Hayling Island Bookshop on Wednesday morning to support local author, saga writer Dee Williams. She met and talked with some of her fans and she and I managed to have time to have a gossip too and talk about writing techniques. Today Kate Mosse is at the Hayling Island Bookshop holding a clinic for Portsmouth Grammar Sixth Form students before doing a public signing. It will be a flying visit on my part because I'm off to the Plessey Retirement Association this afternoon to give another talk. Then it's the Hayling Island Bookshop again tomorrow morning between 11am and 12 noon for my own book signing and a chance to catch up with my readers.

Independent Booksellers Week kicks off on 1 July and runs until 8 July and I would like to say a little something in support of my local bookshop on Hayling Island where I will be signing copies of my novels, including the paperback version of Deadly Waters, on Saturday 5 July between 11am and 12.00 noon. This little something has appeared in my local newspaper The News on the Letters page and in The Bookseller magazine. All too often we complain and criticise so I thought it was about time some praise was due. "I fully endorse Independent Booksellers Week to celebrate the role that Indies play in the community and am immensely grateful as an author to those bookshops that have supported me. But I don’t think anyone can top my local independent bookshop, The Hayling Island Bookshop for sheer commitment to the community. Marie and Colin Telford ( in the picture above) are a breath of fresh air in our island community. Here are just a few of the things they do: Organise flower baske...

It was a calm warm day. The sea was like frosted glass. Perfect conditions for my marathon book signing event on the Wightlink ferry, St Clare. All started well with the added bonus of watching HMS Illustrious glide into the narrow entrance of Portsmouth harbour with the lads and lasses of the Royal Navy standing proudly on deck, scouring the horizon for their loved ones. It was a truly awesome sight, particularly because it was high tide and you could see the grey ship towering over the ancient houses of Old Portsmouth. I only wish I'd got a photograph of it. ( Note to self - must put this in an Andy Horton Marine Mystery). No wonder the national media weren't interested in little old me, and who can blame them. I'd picked the wrong day and the wrong week to generate some quirky media coverage. And let's face it, the boys and girls in uniform returning home are much more newsworthy than a crime writer. And I couldn't compete with the big "literary" guns a...

Last week I ran a course at Sinah Warren Holiday Centre on Hayling Island on "Writing a Novel". I thoroughly enjoyed it and so too did my students (or so they told me) some of them are pictured here with me. I'm the one with the pen in her hand! We had some stimulating discussions about writing novels and the business of publishing and being an author. They were a lovely group. Thanks guys for making tutoring you a very pleasurable and motivating experience. Following the course I gave a talk and book signing to other guests at Sinah Warren where I met some of my faithful readers and some new readers. Colin and Marie Telford of The Hayling Island Book Shop organised the event and were on hand to sell my books. Apart from me mislaying my mobile phone and having a panic attack about it, and then it being found and handed into reception, it was a good day finishing off a highly productive and successful week.

How would you describe In Cold Daylight? It’s a fast-paced thriller with a controversial story line that has you on the edge of your seat wondering if Adam Greene will be allowed to get to the truth behind the death of his friend, fire-fighter, Jack Bartholomew and the other fire fighters from the same watch who have died of cancer. What gave you the inspiration for the story? My husband is a former fire-fighter and he and the others on his watch were talking one day about the men who had died of cancer and how several of them were from the same watch. They wondered if it was as a result of an incident they attended some years previously. No more was said, but that planted the seed of an idea in my mind. I thought what if it was true? And is it true? There is research that shows fire fighters are at a far higher risk of developing certain cancers than people in many other professions. A University of Cincinnati research team looked at 110,000 fire-fighters and compared them to other oc...

Yes, it's that time of year again when one is inclined to look back over the happenings of the year and set targets and goals for a new year. And it's been an interesting and exciting 2007 for me and my novels. The time has flown by, I can hardly believe it is Christmas. So, before I look forward to 2008, here is a brief summary of the just a few of the key happenings for me in 2007. January 2007 The New Year kicked off with my three marine mysteries being featured in the Paperback Preview Supplement of the The Bookseller Magazine. I was also thrilled to be chosen as the Author of the Month for Hampshire Libraries and my new thriller In For The Kill was featured in both Waterstone’s and Borders promotions in the UK. February 2007 I embarked on a tour of book signings and library talks which resulted in meeting some lovely people, new readers and existing ones, and getting some good media coverage in various magazines and newspapers. March 2007 A feature article appeared in Be...

I have just received an e news flash from the Bookseller Magazine to say that the Pan Bookshop in London is too close after thirty two years of trading. How sad. Not that I used it being down here in Hampshire and they in London, but it's another book institution gone and reflects the changing nature of book selling today. Books are a low cost item (generally) and not a fast moving consumer good (FMCG) so I don't expect the high rents in Chelsea were helping the shop to trade profitably. Selling books whether you are a bookseller, author or publisher is b***** hard work. For the author it's a matter of getting his or her name out there and building readership, but that all takes time and by then the bookshop could have 'returned' your book, and the publisher could have dropped you because you just aren't selling enough. Publishers don't have the time, resources or money to commit to marketing an unknown author but instead concentrate on their BIG names, thei...