Crime authors get to research all sorts of interesting things and last Saturday I spent a fascinating morning at the Fingerprint Bureau at Hampshire Police Support Headquarters at Netley, UK, learning how the fingerprints taken at the scene of crime and of people in police custody are identified. Although I'd researched this before and have had lots of advice from the Fingerprint Team I went there specifically to ask questions that relate to the…

Time frames in novels, and particularly when writing a series, as I do with the DI Andy Horton novels, are a tricky thing. There is ‘real time’ and there is ‘fictional time’.

In ‘real time’ I write two DI Horton novels a year whereas in ‘fictional time’ the current novels are set over a period of sixteen months, which means there are an awful lot of murders in Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight, making it…

The final talk of my mini book tour of South Wales on the 3 October 2013 on the publication in the UK of the tenth in the DI Andy Horton crime series, Death Surge, was at Neath Library.

The town of Neath is situated in the principal area of Neath Port Talbot located on the River Neath. It was a market town that expanded with the arrival of the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century with the new manufacturing industries of iron, steel and tinplate. But just as with the other…

The second day of my mini book tour of South Wales on 3 October 2013 on the publication in the UK of the tenth in the DI Andy Horton crime series, Death Surge, started with a coffee and a lovely walk along the delightful seafront in Porthcawl (town by the sea) where I picked up some amusing and interesting ideas for characters and…

The second stop on my book tour of South Wales on the publication in the UK of the tenth in the DI Andy Horton crime series, Death Surge,was at Pontarddulais, a town situated just under ten miles to the north west of…

My recent book tour of talks in South Wales on the publication in the UK of the tenth in the DI Andy Horton crime series, Death Surge, kicked off in Abertridwr Library.

Abertridwr is a village in the borough of Caerphilly, Wales in the Aber Valley. The English translation is…

August is  traditionally a quieter month in terms of speaking engagements for me so it is a chance to get down to some hard graft on the writing front.  I'm running a little behind with the next DI Andy Horton, which will be number eleven in the series, but I am confident that I will make up time in August.



I also have two speaking engagements in August and am delighted to be giving a talk…

Over a hundred people turned out on a hot July afternoon to listen to me talking about murder, mystery and mayhem. I was honoured and delighted to entertain Hamble Valley U3A with a talk about crime writing and my crime novels.

The audience were very friendly and it was good to meet some DI Andy Horton fans and introduce my crime novels to some new readers.

U3As are self-help, self-managed lifelong learning co-operatives for older people no longer in full time…

CSI Basingstoke, where crime fiction met crime fact, held on Saturday 6 July at the Basingstoke Discovery Centre in Hampshire, England, was a big hit with the audience. The sell out event was attended by a capacity audience of fifty crime fiction and CSI fans.

The event was modelled on the highly successful CSI Portsmouth, which I first organised in 2010. This year will be the fourth year of CSI Portsmouth,…

Undercurrent has been published in the UK, Commonwealth and USA and has also been released as an e book. The ninth in the DI Andy Horton series set on the South Coast of England, in the Solent area of Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight has received reviews from top USA book magazines, Publishers Weekly, Kirkus and…

Nearly a hundred and twenty people attended the first ever CSI Gateshead event at Gateshead Library on Thursday 25 April. Inspired by the CSI Portsmouth event, which I help to organise. The CSI Gateshead event was a huge success.

CSI Gateshead was modelled on the CSI Portsmouth event with some slight variation. The Gateshead event took place over two hours on an evening with one panel of crime fiction authors and crime experts whereas CSI Portsmouth is a full day event with…

Undercurrent, the ninth in the marine mystery crime series featuring the flawed and rugged detective DI Andy Horton will be published in America in hardcover and released internationally as an e book, available on all e readers including, Kindle, Kobo and Nook on 1 May 2013.

Undercurrent was published in the UK and Commonwealth by Severn House on 30 January 2013.

Set in the Solent area on the South Coast of England the DI Horton series has received critical…

Footsteps on the Shore the sixth in the DI Andy Horton series was published in Large Print in the UK on 28 March by Severn House Publishers. It will be published in Large Print in the USA on 30 May…

Jeffery Deaver and Peter James are lined up to take part in this year’s Crimefest and I'm delighted to be there with them.

Peter James and Pauline Rowson, looking very happy or a bit sozzled! CrimeFest 2011

I haven't met Jeffrey Deaver but I am sure that his Thriller Writing Seminar as part of the festival’s Crime…

On Saturday night I appeared on the Arts and Culture Show on Voice FM  talking to the radio presenter Xan Phillips about my marine mystery crime novels, the inspiration behind my flawed and rugged detective DI Andy Horton, the latest in the Horton series, Undercurrent and the importance of marketing for authors, artists and musicians.

Click here to listen to the…

I am appearing at Crimefest this year on a panel with fellow crime authors Ann Cleeves, Kate Ellis, J.C. Martin and Kerry Wilkinson on 31 May.

Crimefest is a crime fiction convention which follows the format of US conventions and includes interviews, panels, and a gala dinner. I have appeared at Crimefest for the last three years and have very much enjoyed meeting crime fiction fans from around the world.

My panel this year will take place on Friday 31 May…

I will be undertaking a book tour in the North East of England in April to publicise my latest crime novel to feature the flawed and rugged DI Andy Horton, Undercurrent,published by Severn House and to talk to readers about how I research, plot and write my novels.…

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…

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…