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A muggy, thundery day with the seagulls feeding on the flying ants, and a hot walk along the Hayling Island Coastal Path, formerly the Hayling Billy railway line which got axed in 1963. The coastal path skirts Langstone Harbour and features in the Andy Horton crime novel I have just finished writing and which, I believe, (though it's not been confirmed) is scheduled for publication in February 2011. I'll keep you posted on that. It's called Footsteps on the Shore and here is a preview of what it's about: Friday the thirteenth begins badly for Inspector Andy Horton when he wakes to find his Harley has been vandalized and his boss, DCI Lorraine Bliss, head of CID, 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 be...

I spent most of yesterday writing - well what else was there to do, it rained all day! Now the sun is shining, it's a beautiful morning and soon I'll be putting on those walking boots and striking out along the Hayling Coastal Path, returning home this afternoon to continue with the fifth draft of Inspector Andy Horton number six.  And I think I have a title.  It came to me this morning while cleaning my teeth, as these things often do.  It's either then or at three o'clock in the morning, which is not so good because once you start thinking about things at that time of the day/night you can't get back to sleep again. I'm not going to reveal the title yet because I need to mull it over for a while and check out who else, if anyone, has used it.  There is no copyright on novel titles, and many have been used before, but I want to make sure that it's not already been used by a famous author.  I have a vague suspicion I have heard it before, b...

I just want to say a personal (and public) thank you to all emergency service personnel and others who have gone out of their way to help people during the recent adverse weather (snow). That includes the police officers who have been helping stranded motorists and others; doctors and nurses who didn't stay at home and let the patients heal themselves; ambulance crews who didn't let sick and injured people down, and to the kind man who turned up at Portsmouth Ambulance Station on the night it started snowing with his 4 x 4 Land rover and handed it over to the ambulance crew because he knew they'd be struggling to get through in the snow.  He then stayed on the station all night helping them in any way he could.  It brings a warm glow to your heart.  Also thanks to the fire fighters who didn't let people's houses burn down or trapped people perish in their cars.  Thanks also to the bus and train drivers who struggled into work to keep the public tran...