The afternoon session at CSI Portsmouth 2013 began at 2pm on Saturday 2 November, following a highly successful morning panel session which focused on drugs and drug related crime with crime experts Mick Ellis from Hampshire Police and Dr Alex Allan a forensic toxicologist from Triple A Forensics along with myself as crime author and moderator and crime author Kerry Wilkinson.…

Writing a crime series and keeping each novel fresh is always a challenge for crime writers. There are now nine in the DI Andy Horton series and number ten, Death Surge, is being published by Severn House in September 2013 in the UK and on 1 January 2014 in the USA. So DI Horton has come a long way since first appearing in Tide of Death in 2006.

So how does a writer keep the series fresh and the central character of interest to readers?

Readers buy my books…

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        To…

More indebtedness incurred by author Earl Merkel, rapidly becoming known as "the Greece of the Writing World"-- this from the lovely Lis Wiehl, who writes the "Triple Threat Club" mystery series when she's not doing legal analysis on television:

"If you're at loose ends waiting for Showtime's HOMELAND to return next fall FIRE OF THE PROPHET by Earl Merkel is your salvation. It's…

In the latest video just uploaded here and on my You Tube Channel I'm talking to Tony Smith about the latest DI Andy Horton mystery crime novel, Undercurrent,set in the Solent area of Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight on the South Coast of England and about the flawed and rugged detective DI Andy Horton. (Recorded in March…

Isis Publishing, the World’s leading publisher of unabridged audio books, has bought the rights to three more crime novels featuring the flawed and rugged detective, DI Andy Horton.

Isis has already published four unabridged audio books in the DI Horton mystery crime series: Deadly Waters, The Suffocating Sea, Dead Man’s Wharf and Blood on the Sand  which are published in…

Title:  OUT OF THE SILENCE

Author: Wendy James

ISBN:  B00BMFEUPS

Year of Publication:  2013

Publisher:  Momentum Books

Location:  Melbourne



Book Synopsis



I call his name – only quietly, but he hears me as I knew he would, and wants me as he always does. And we come together – right there in the darkness. And even though there is no way to be certain of any other thing in the world, I am certain that I would risk anything to keep what is between the two…

Book Title:  THE PRICE OF FAME

Author:  R C Daniells

ISBN: 978-0-9873419-2-1

Year of Publication: 2012

Publisher:  Clan Destine Press

Category: Crime Fiction / Paranormal

Location:  Melbourne

Book Synopsis



Where will Antonia’s search for truth lead and who will suffer?



When film and TV graduate, Antonia Carlyle sets out to make a documentary about eighties band, ‘The Tough Romantics’, she uncovers new facts surrounding the death of singer…

Undercurrent, the ninth in the marine mystery crime series featuring the flawed and rugged detective DI Horton is now published in the UK and Commonwealth by Severn House. It will be published in the USA on 1 May 2013.

Set in the Solent area on the South Coast of England the DI Horton series has received critical acclaim both in the UK and the USA where they have been compared to the works…

Thrilled to see my guest essay on writers keeping the faith despite self-doubt on Psychology Today! Here's an excerpt:

"I’m ten years old. My Big Ben-style alarm clock has stopped working. Maybe I wound it too tightly, maybe it’s just worn out. Whatever the reason, the alarm hasn’t gone off in days.

I know I can fix it, if only I can get a look inside. When I tell my …

The new DI Andy Horton, number nine in the series, called Undercurrent, will be published in the UK and Commonwealth on 31 January and in the USA on 1 May 2013. Like all the DI Horton novelsit is set against the backdrop of the sea in the Solent area on the South Coast of England.

In this crime novel DI Horton has a new mystery…

I'm delighted to announce that the seventh in the DI Andy Horton crime series, A Killing Coast has been nominated by my publisher Severn House for the eDUNNIT AWARD at CrimeFest 2013.

Crimefest is an annual convention for crime fiction fans and draws top…

2012 was another busy and rewarding year with two new DI Andy Horton Mystery crime novels, (number seven and eight in the series published), A Killing Coast and Death…

So a week ago I caught Ocean's Eleven, the Steven Soderbergh version, on TV. I never thought that version or the original were particularly good, but it got me thinking about the whole genre of heist movies. First, I should set out my own definition of what a heist movie is. A heist movie should be about one particular robbery, not a story about a string of robberies. Second, the theft is the work of a team rather than an individual. Third, the item being stolen has to be elaborately…

Footsteps on the Shore, the sixth in the DI Andy Horton seriesof marine based mystery crime novels set on the South Coast of England, has been reprinted in paperback and is also available as an e book on…

The October issue of Writers' Tricks of the Trade E-Zine is now available for download. Filled with interesting articles from contributing authors, a review by Martha Cheves, writer's conference listings, handy tips and techniques and helpful links to blogs and websites plus much mo

re, it is rapidly becoming the E-Zine that writers (and readers, too) love to read and contribute to. Share it with your writer friends and writer's groups. You can find the link to the current issue and…

Book Title:  SHADOW OF THE ROCK

Author: Thomas Mogford

ISBN:  9781408824160

Location:  Gibraltar, Tangiers

Series:  Spike Sanguinetti

Publisher:  Bloomsbury

Year of Publication:  2012



On a humid summer night in Gibraltar, lawyer Spike Sanguinetti finds Solomon Hassan, an old school friend, waiting on his doorstep.



Accused of murdering a Spanish girl in Tangiers, Solomon swears his innocence. He has managed to skip across the Straits, but the Moroccan…

Tickets are now on sale for CSI Portsmouth 2012 taking place on Saturday 3 November at John Pounds Centre, Portsmouth, England, the third year of this popular event where crime fiction meets crime fact.

At this year’s CSI Portsmouth international crime authors Stephen Booth, Ann Cleeves, Matt Hilton and Pauline Rowson join Crime Scene Manager Co-ordinator Carolyn Lovell from Hampshire Police, DC Terry Fitzjohn…

Book Title:  RUSH OF BLOOD

Author:  Mark Billingham

ISBN:  9781847444226

Publisher:  Little & Brown

Year of Publication:  2012



Three couples meet around the pool on their Florida holiday and become fast friends. But on their last night, their perfect holiday takes a tragic twist: the teenage daughter of another holidaymaker goes missing, and her body is later found floating in the mangroves.



When the shocked couples return home, they remain in contact,…