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…

Thank you to everyone who has visited and subscribed to my blog  – it doesn’t go unappreciated.  When I first decided to create a blog, I was apprehensive at first.  Well let’s get serious, I was terrified.  I thought I’d be writing articles just for myself and no one would care about the posts I wrote, but I was…

Every week seems to bring a new story of how advances in forensic technology are bringing closure to cold cases that had been held in police files without leads for ten years, twenty years, or longer.  The scientific community and law enforcement are working together to bring closure to families who just a few years ago may have thought the ability…

A DVD of CSI Portsmouth 2012, which was held on 3 November as part of Portsmouth Bookfest, featuring crime authors Stephen Booth, Ann Cleeves, Matt Hilton and Pauline Rowson has now been released and is on sale as a two disk set.

Over a hundred and sixty people attended the one day event held…

Getting the right name for characters in my crime fiction novels can be a tricky business. Sometimes they come to me completely out of the blue, as I am creating a character, other times I will struggle to find the name that best suits that particular character and until I do the personality refuses to come fully alive. The name has to fit. If it's not right then the character isn't right. The name also needs to fit with the age and nationality although you can have…

Photo Credit: Getty Images

Emily Stone is a woman with three independent novel adventures and a growing list of captured serial killers to prove it.   Every case, every missing child, and every serial killer stalking victims on the west coast…

Photo: Texas Dept. of Safety

None of us started where we want to be in our chosen profession.  We have to take courses, practice a skill, develop a good reputation with clients, or a variety of other activities that…

Photo: Courtesy of coldcasesquad.com

Crime scenes aren’t as cut and dry as one might think.  There are many variables and each one should be carefully identified, searched, documented, and processed correctly.  The process doesn’t flow like the…

Crime authors Stephen Booth, Ann Cleeves, Matt Hilton and Pauline Rowson, and crime experts from Hampshire Police, the University of Portsmouth and the University of Surrey kept a packed audience enthralled at CSI Portsmouth on Saturday 3…

Death Lies Beneath, which was published in the UK in July, has now been published in hardcover in the USA by Severn House and is also now available as an e book on Kindle, Nook and Kobo.

Death Lies…

How much prison time should be considered appropriate for the murder of an infant?  Yes, there must be consideration for intent, maliciousness, premeditation of this act . . . but what is the ballpark?  Five years?  Ten years?  Twenty?  Maybe life?

Well, how about ninety days in prison for the death of a six-month-old girl?  That is the sentence handed down to a teen dad in Colorado after…

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…

Death Lies Beneath, the eighth DI Andy Horton marine mystery set on the South Coast of England, in the Solent area of Portsmouth, has received some lovely reviews in America  from Kirkus and Publishers Weekly.

American Book reviewer, Kirkus says, "Horton’s 8th is a treat for fans of the puzzle-box mystery."…

The Deadly Gamble

The Suspects

Here is the list of suspects based on access and motive.

 …

You probably have seen an episode of Law and Order: SVU or Criminal Minds during which the police psychologist explains a brain scan of an accused criminal to a packed courtroom.  It makes for great television, but does this premise reflect real…

The Hampshire Police Fire Investigations Officer DC Terry Fitzjohn and Watch Manager Andy Earl of the Arson Task Force will be appearing at CSI Portsmouth 2012 on the morning panel along with Crime Scene Manager Carolyn Lovell from Hampshire Police and crime authors, Matt Hilton and Stephen Booth and myself.…

When I outline bad guys for my novels, it often reads like a police rap sheet and a psychological profile.  I can’t overstate the effectiveness for research and outlining in fiction writing.  There’s always those little pieces of nuggets that you can weave into the story that gives it the added realism and authenticity.  These nuggets are like pieces of gold for me and I love hunting for…

As we approach the end of the summer movie season, I’ve had some thoughts about what makes a classic on-screen villain.  I’ve often heard interviews with actors who say that the bad guy is the most fun to play, and I understand why.  They are fascinating!

There are the villains…

You caught me.  I admit it.  I’m a huge Die Hard movie fan (see photo above of Bruce Willis as John McClane from Die Hard).

I love to write action and fight scenes in my novels.  I’m not quite sure what that actually stems from, but I thrive on ways to figure out interesting and sometimes very physical ways to get my main character…