This week there is the chance to win a copy of DI Andy Horton number eight, Death Lies Beneath, which is being offered on the Crime Readers Association (CRA)…

On Thursday 20 February I was delighted to entertain the volunteers of the Southampton and District National Trust.



I talked about the inspiration behind the DI Andy Horton series of crime novels, where I get my ideas from, and how I write the…

Whose story is it? That is a question every writer needs to ask him or herself before starting to write a novel, or if not then certainly while writing and revising it. From whose viewpoint are you telling the story? Is it single viewpoint or multiple viewpoint? Is it male or female or a mixture of both? Beware the latter though and having too many viewpoints because that will not only muddle the story and slow it down but it will also confuse you, and more importantly the…

The answer is that the two are so interlinked it is difficult to say what comes first. The characters drive the plot but in order to create the characters you must have an idea what the plot is about.

In my case, in respect of the DI Andy Horton series of novels, this is usually a location…

I had great time entertaining the ladies of the Young at Heart Club (part of Brandon Care) on Wednesday 5 February. They certainly lived up to their name. They were a very lively bunch.

Against the backdrop of fierce winds, torrential rain and thunder I talked about murder mystery and mayhem. Very appropriate

I spoke of how I get the ideas for my…

February sees the publication in paperback of Death Lies Beneath,the eighth in the series of British Police Procedural crime novels featuring the flawed and rugged detective, DI Andy Horton. It has also be released as an unabridged audio…

Creating a likeable, interesting and complex main character, one the reader can have empathy with, one they want to trust, feel his/her pain and disappointments, root for throughout the story is the key to creating a successful and riveting crime novel.

Pauline Rowson author of the popular DI Andy Horton crime series explains how…

At Monks Brook U3A on 8 January I was delighted to talk to the audience about my DI Andy Horton crime novels, how I draw my inspiration from the area in which the novels are set (the Solent area on the South Coast of England) and my method for developing plot lines and creating…

2014 promises to be another productive and interesting year. I'm not the sort of person to make New Year's Resolutions but I do like to set goals and then measure the achievement of them throughout the year.  This comes as a result of my business background in Marketing and Training where goal setting is important just as long as those goals are realistic and achievable. …

Here is a  round up of the highlights of 2013, videos and photo slide show to come in following blogs.

My thanks to all my readers, my publishers, to the libraries and organisations who have hosted my talks, to the audiences who came to listen to me, to the press, radio presenters and their listeners, bloggers and their readers and to my family, friends and everyone who has supported me throughout 2013 and an special thanks to the hunky DI Andy Horton!

Wishing you all a very…

Severn House Publishershas bought World English language rights to the eleventh in the mystery crime series featuring the flawed and rugged DI Andy Horton.

Shroud of Evil will be published in the UK and Commonwealth in April 2014 in…

A visit to the newly refurbished Sandhurst Library in Bracknell Forest on 4 December was the perfect way to finish a busy year of talks and public appearances in 2013. Not only were the audience lovely and packed with some die hard DI Andy Horton fans but after my talk about murder, crime and bodies there was a gorgeous English tea complete with cucumber sandwiches, scones with jam and cream,…

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…

A Killing Coast, the seventh in the DI Andy Horton series has been published in paperback and as an unabridged audio book. Already available in hardcover and as an e book, published by Severn House, it has been released as an unabridged audio book by Isis publishing, read by Gordon Griffin who also reads the others in the DI Horton series. Published in the UK, Commonwealth and America,…

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 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.…

Over 130 people gathered at the National Museum of the Royal Navy in the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard on a blustery day, punctuated by the occasional shower, on Saturday 2 November to listen to two panels of crime authors, crime experts and police debate crime fiction and crime fact. It was great to see so many people there and to welcome back those who had attended the previous CSI Portsmouth events.…

Last week I was invited onto two more more radio stations  to talk about my crime novels following my appearance on the Julian Clegg Breakfast Show on BBC Radio Solent on 14 October.



On Thursday 24 October at 11am I was delighted to be Tony Smith's guest on Angel Radio, talking about the latest in the…

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…