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

Tickets are now on sale for my event at the exciting and vibrant Isle of Wight Festival in April . You can read about my event and other events taking place over the weekend of 15-17 April at Ventnor on the Isle of Wight on the website , but below is a taster. "Murder, treachery, deceit and betrayal set against the backdrop of the south coast and the Solent? It must be another case for DI Andy Horton . His creator, novelist Pauline Rowson, combines her fascination with mystery and adventure with a love of the sea and in doing so has created a whole new genre of crime fiction – the marine mystery. Her rugged and flawed hero from Portsmouth CID not only has complex and bloody crimes to solve, he has his demons to face from his own past and is battling for access to his daughter. Pauline will reveal what inspires her and how she researches and writes her novels at Isle of Arts on Sunday 17 April at 4pm ." For tickets visit the online box office: http://artsisle.org/tic...

I've written a fact sheet primarily for young people interested in entering the CWA'sYoung Crime Writers’ Competition sponsored by CRIMEFEST , an International crime convention held in Britain. It's available on my web site along with details about the competition but I also thought I'd post it here. It might be of interest not only to participants of the crime short story competition but to others who wish to write crime stories or novels. How to write a good crime story by Pauline Rowson There are many different types of crime stories from gritty gruesome, cosy comfortable to cops, robbers and gangsters, racy, action-packed thrillers, historical or contemporary, detective or private eye… Then there is the setting: the city, the sea, countryside, mountains, home or abroad, and the theme – what message are you trying to get across? And whose story is it anyway? So -  Choose your location Choose your type of crime story Think about a good theme or message you w...

Here is an extract from the interview I did with Tony Smith of Angel Radio about a unique event where I and four of my fellow international crime authors will join police, CSI, forensic and fingerprinting experts in Crime and the City, CSI Portsmouth on Saturday 6 November at the John Pounds Centre, Portsmouth. Fiction meets fact at this lively, entertaining event; come for the morning session, the afternoon session or both. Tickets on sale from 023 9268 8037 or visit my official web site for more details. It's part of Portsmouth Bookfest organised by the Hayling Island Bookshop and Portsmouth City Council.

Just over 100 people packed St George's Church Hall in Waterlooville, Hampshire at the U3A meeting to hear me speak about my marine mystery police procedural crime novels and thrillers , set on the South Coast of England.  Here are some photographs taken from the event.  Unfortunately there are none of me signing my novels because my photographer (my husband, Bob)  was busy answering questions and taking the money!!! Crime writer Pauline Rowson talking to a packed audience  Pauline Rowson explaining how she writes her crime novels to the U3A audience Pauline Rowson reads an extract from her thriller, In For The Kill  Crime author Pauline Rowson answering questions about her marine mystery crime novels I really enjoyed meeting so many lovely people and was delighted to sign copies of my novels. Thank you to U3A Waterlooville for making me so welcome.

September is shaping up to be a busy month now that the holiday season is over. I've got a few talks lined up and the fifth Inspector Andy Horton crime novel, Blood on the Sand is due to be published in paperback on 30 September. So here is what September is looking like so far. 22 September 2010 at 2pm, -Talk and Book signing at the U3A Waterloovile, Hampshire. 22 September 2010 - I'll be on the Julian Clegg Breakfast Programme BBC Radio Solent at 6.45 a.m. 28 September 2010 - Guest author and book signing in the 'Reading Cafe' at Burton-on-Trent Library between 10am and 12 noon. For further information contact: Tel: 01283 239564 paul.tovell@staffordshire.gov.uk   http://www.staffordshire.gov.uk/ 30 September 2010 - Blood on the Sand is published in paperback. Paperback due to be published on 30 September 2010 There are more details and news updates on my official web site at http://www.rowmark.co.uk/  You can also subscribe to my e newslett...

I did this Q & A session recently for the Chichester Book Club page and thought you might like to read it here. It's based on the third novel in the Andy Horton marine mystery crime series, The Suffocating Sea , which is available in paperback and as an unabridged audio book and e book. How would you describe your crime novel, The Suffocating Sea ? The Suffocating Sea is the third in my detective series of crime novels featuring my flawed and rugged detective, Inspector Andy Horton. In the US they are called police procedurals, and I guess that is what they are, because they are centred on police investigations but they also follow the life of the main character, Andy Horton. In this crime novel, Horton’s investigations lead him to confront not only the victim’s past, but the mystery surrounding his mother’s disappearance over thirty years ago. Where did you get the idea for The Suffocating Sea ? I draw most of the ideas for my novels from the area where I live, th...

I’m back from a highly successful whirlwind mini tour of the north east of England, my second in six months and I’m delighted to say I was met once again with very friendly people and some avid fans of my marine mystery crime novels. The first stop was Washington Town Centre Library, yes, home of George Washington the first President of the United States of America, 1789 to 1797, whose ancestors settled in Washington, England, then called Wessyngton, in 1183. Here was my smallest audience but an extremely lively and appreciative one nevertheless. Next up, on the following morning, was Ingleby Barwick Library. Ingleby Barwick is a large private residential estate and civil parish in the borough of Stockton-on-Tees. At one time it was reputed to be the largest Private Housing Estate in Europe. The audience of adults was joined by several talented and gifted students from the adjacent All Saints Secondary School, who took lots of photographs, which means I could end up all over Faceb...

Not every crime writer has personal experience of murder in their family but this year is the fiftieth anniversary of the unsolved murder of my great aunt, Martha Giles. And it is one mystery that it appears I will never be able to solve. Over the last year, I have been piecing together the evidence of the Martha Giles murder which hit the headlines in the national newspapers in 1959 but I’ve finally hit a brick wall after being denied access to certain ‘closed’ files in the National Archives. In the fifty years since Martha’s death the case has never been re-opened, despite requests from the family, and no one has been brought to justice for her murder. Martha Giles was the mother of five children, the youngest of whom was only five at the time of her death. She was a nurse at New Cross Hospital, Wolverhampton. On the evening of 11 February 1959 she left her home to go on night duty but she never showed up for work. No one questioned why, or where she was. Her body was discovered the ...

I’m giving a talk tomorrow at Bracknell Library in Berkshire, Hampshire, and I am looking forward to it. It is always good to connect with people, and at these types of events to discuss books (not only mine but other writers) and to discover what people like and why they like them. It also helps to provide me with ideas for possible future books, plays and screenplays. And it reminds me who my audience are i.e. who I am writing for and why I write. So what has this got to do with how writers see themselves? Bear with me. In my previous career, before becoming a full time writer, I ran my own marketing and training consultancy. I used to advise businesses and the public sector on their marketing strategies and devise marketing and PR campaigns for them as well giving seminars, presentations and talks at conferences on a variety of topics from understanding motivation and personalities, to marketing, selling, communicating and leadership. I have always enjoyed public speaking and enter...

Love Your Local Bookshop , is The Booksellers' Association's campaign to celebrate independent bookselling. It runs from 1st to 8th July 2008. There is a range of events taking place at over 300 independent booksellers nationwide, from literary festivals, to bookshop quizzes, children’s readings, girls’ nights in with Galaxy chocolate. and author signings. My local independent bookseller on Hayling Island - The Hayling Island Bookshop is organising a series of book signings that week, which include saga writer, Dee Williams signing on 1 July, Kate Mosse on 4 July and yours truly on Saturday 5 July between 11am and 12 noon. As a passionate supporter of local bookshops I am really pleased with this initiative and hope that it goes from strength to strength. You can visit http://lylbs.tbpcontrol.co.uk/ to find out what is going on in your area.

Here I am again this time at The London Book Fair where I launched the publication, in hardback, of my latest Marine Mystery featuring my detective, Inspector Horton. I am pleased to say that The Suffocating Sea has received some positive reviews from the American press (now would I tell you if it had received grim reviews???) It has been hailed as being full of ‘unexpected twists,’ ‘a gripping suspense-filled murder case,’ and an ‘entertaining read in an engaging series for British procedural fans.’ So I am quite pleased. But as always I want to do better and make each book stronger and more gripping than the last one. What writer wouldn't? And I think that once a book is published the author always feels he or she could have improved it. The Suffocating Sea is set in Portsmouth, England and is the third in the Inspector Horton series and my fifth crime novel to be published since 2006. Here they are in order: The Inspector Horton Marine Mysteries Tide of Death (paperback) Deadly...

I have been very lax writing here lately but put that down to the backlog of work and writing deadlines caused by my flu bug. Now that is out of the way, and I am back firing on all cylinders, it is onwards and upwards, as Dell Boy would have said. Which brings me to London and the London Book Fair. This kicks off on Monday 14 April through to Wednesday 16 April and I will be there with my Marine Mysteries on Stand J205 ( near the entrance and the Ladies loo - very useful). Before that, this coming week, I am running a novel writing course at the Sinah Warren hotel complex (Bourne Leisure group) on Hayling Island, as one of their experience breaks. This is being held on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings and is followed by me giving a talk and book signing to any of the guests who care to come from Sinah Warren and the nearby Lakeside holiday complex. If it's raining, you never know, I might get packed out! It should be an interesting week and I'm looking forward to it. ...

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...