Pauline Rowson's Blog - Posts Tagged "mysteries"

Thank you to Mike Powell of BBC Radio Solent for inviting me to be his guest on his Sunday afternoon programme (15 March 2009) to talk about the unsolved murder of my great aunt, Martha Giles, who was brutally killed on 12 February 1959. I was also talking to Mike about my marine mystery crime and thriller novels.

Thanks also to those of you who were kind enough to e mail and text him to say how much you enjoy my novels, and to offer your support in trying to get this tragic case re-examined by the police.

In addition, I would like to thank the Red Room for choosing my video on character development to feature on the Home page last week, and everyone who listened to it and clicked through to my author page, and my official web site http://www.rowmark.co.uk More videos to follow soon.

Finally, I would like to thank those who visited my web site during Read an E Book Week 8-14 March 2009, and downloaded a copy of Tide of Death. I hope you enjoy reading it and come back for more.

I've just uploaded a new video to my broadcast channel at You Tube where you can watch all my videos and subscribe to receive updates as new videos are posted. Or you can see all my video interviews on my web site

The latest video is an interview with Rob Richardson of Express FM where I am talking about my marine mysteries and we are discussing writing point of view.

I'm back from the London Book Fair after two very hectic and productive days. Can’t say it’s the best way to spend two gorgeous hot sunny days in England stuck in a giant air-conditioned hanger in the middle of London but needs must, and it was great to see so many friends in the publishing and bookselling world, and meet people who I’ve connected with on LinkedIn and on Facebook.

The London Book Fair seemed to be buzzing with activity with everyone in a positive and upbeat mood. Not so the taxi drivers who say that business in the capital is certainly down on this time last year. Though judging by the number of tourists on the embankment and river tours on Sunday I’d say the visitor figures must be well up. Those who live and work in London though (according to my source) are letting the tube take the strain. The buses seemed to be faring well and the number of cyclists whizzing along the busy fuel-choked roads seemed to spawn daily while we were there.

Anyway back to the London Book Fair. I met with my Literary Agent from Brazil who is very upbeat about my novels and has considerable interest from a number of publishers and producers in both Latin America and North America. My agents in Spain and Italy also have interest from publishers for translation rights, so fingers crossed. And it was nice to catch up with my agents from the Middle East and the Far East.

While on the stand I had a surprise visit from Paul Daniels – yes, the magic man. It was great to see him and he promised to follow my antics on Twitter!

I was pleased to meet with my e book and audio publisher, Summersdale Publishing, and my business book publisher, Crimson, who gave me a copy of the jacket cover of one of my new business titles due to be published in August 2009. They’re doing a big marketing push behind the launch of a major new series of business books including my titles: Successful Marketing, Successful Sales and Successful Customer Service. As soon as I have jpegs, I’ll post them on my official web site www.rowmark.co.uk with all the details.

Many people stopped by to tell me how much they loved my rugged, edgy detective, Inspector Horton and to them I very grateful. I hope many more will enjoy reading my crime novels in the months and years ahead. Dead Man's Wharf is being published in hardcover next week and I am now waiting to see who will offer on the fifth Inspector Horton crime novel, Blood Upon The Sand, which is now finished. On with number six...

I’ve just returned from giving two talks in Cornwall where the sun was shining, the sea was blue and the crowds were flocking to St Ives, which was my first port of call on Tuesday morning at 11am. I met some delightful people as always and my heartfelt thanks to them for listening to me talking about how I write and for buying my books. After a quick sandwich lunch sitting in the cemetery overlooking the bay it was about an hour’s drive to St Austell Library where, once again, I met some lovely people, answered questions about my marine mystery crime novels and signed books before setting homewards.

My next stop was meant to be CrimeFest in Bristol for my panel interview on Friday 15 May, but due to unforeseen circumstances I have had to pull out. I am really disappointed as I was looking forward to speaking at the event and meeting so many crime authors and crime fiction fans. If you are attending and hoping to see me and hear me talk, please accept my apologies. I will be back next year. My books will still be on sale at CrimeFest but I won’t be there to sign them – sorry. For anyone who is disappointed not to meet me, please e mail me or leave a comment here if you have a particular question you wanted to ask me. If you require signed copies you can order direct by visiting my official web site at http://www.rowmark.co.uk

My next book signing and talk is at Ferndown Library, Dorset on Tuesday 2 June at 10.30am. All welcome e mail: ferndownlibrary@dorsetcc.gov.uk Tel: 01202 874542 And I promise I will be there.

It's always great to get positive feedback on one's novels and I am delighted to have received some lovely comments from readers over the last couple of weeks concerning the latest Inspector Horton Marine Mystery crime novel, Dead Man's Wharf.

I've also had some great comments from readers who have just discovered my earlier crime novels, Tide of Death, Deadly Waters and The Suffocating Sea, as well as my thriller In For Kill. If that sounds like bragging then please it's not -far from it. I am just soooo grateful for a kind word or two...

When a new novel is published, us authors wait with baited breath, not to see what the 'official' reviewers are saying about it but what the real readers think about it. We are nervous, sensitive souls who have lived, breathed and eaten that last novel. We've shared our characters fears, thrills, sorrows, joys and more, so much so that it feels as though a part of us has been laid bare. We want the book to be good - great even. And we really want people to enjoy reading it.

By the time I have finished writing, and endlessly revising a novel, I know it inside out and back to front. And that's not the end of the matter, I then have to go through the proofs. I am then so close to it that it is difficult to be objective. There comes a time, I am sure with most writers, when you believe that everything you have written is rubbish, so when feedback of a positive nature comes through you have to be scraped off the ceiling you're so excited. It's a great motivator to carry on.

Giving pleasure to my readers in the form of a thrill, a good mystery novel, a gripping and enjoyable crime story is what I love doing. I adore my central character, the flawed and hunky Inspector Andy Horton with all his faults, and I am delighted to say that my readers also love him.

I know I'm probably opening myself here to adverse comments because there's bound to be others who don't like the books -but then that's art for you - it's subjective, and although negative comments hurt I know that I can't please all the people all the time. I'd just like to!

A big thank you to everyone who has been kind enough to let me know that they are enjoying my crime novels. And, yes, I have written the next Inspector Horton, but I'm not sure when it will be published. I'll let you know as soon as I do, here, and on my official web site at http://www.rowmark.co.uk where you can read all about my novels and business books and listen to extracts from them.

Now I'd better get back to writing. I left Inspector Horton in a tricky situation... but then when isn't he?

It may be summer and holiday time, but it's a busy August with the publication of the new unabridged audio book version of The Suffocating Sea, the third in the Inspector Horton Marine Mystery series of crime novels set in the Solent area, and the publication of three of my new marketing and sales books.

The Suffocating Sea has been published by Isis Publishing as an Unabridged Audio Book. Just released (1 August 2009) it is read by Gordon Griffin and is available in cassette and CD form and as a download. It features the rugged and flawed detective, Inspector Andy Horton and his sidekick Sergeant Cantelli.

Three of my new marketing and sales books are also published today by Crimson, as part of an exciting new business series - Get Brilliant Results Fast.

Successful Marketing, Successful Sales and Successful Customer Services are packed full of tips and techniques to help businesses get results quickly. They include case studies, action points and a quick recap at the end of each chapter.

For more information on The Suffocating Sea and all my business and self improvement books you can visit my official web site http://www.rowmark.co.uk

The Suffocating Sea

I’ve been wrestling with the plot of my next Inspector Horton Marine Mystery crime novel over the last few days – hence the silence on my blog, and the silence around the house. I get so absorbed in it, that I find it hard to think of anything else. I’m just over two thirds of the way through writing the first draft and I’ve got to that stage where I need to know exactly where I’m going and with whom. You’d think I would have it all worked out by now, having written nearly seventy thousand words but I haven’t. I always do this – it’s the way I work. I have an idea for the novel, I work out the basic plotline, and I do the character sketches. Then I’m ready to get cracking on the creative writing stuff. I love getting down to the actual writing as soon as I can even though I often don’t know the ending or even ‘who done it’ because the whole novel doesn’t come alive until Horton starts investigating and gets into all sorts of trouble as a result.

As I write, the plot becomes more and more interesting and complex, full of twists and turns so much so that I often tie myself up in knots! That’s when I need to stop writing and do some more hard thinking. I need to revisit the plot (or even re-invent it) to ensure that what I am actually creating is believable, exciting and full of tension.

With this novel, like most of my previous crime novels, the plot line is multi-faceted. And now after a few days hard thinking, and much scribbling I’ve hit the eureka button (although I’ve still got some further research to undertake). At last I think it all ties up. I say think because until I start working on it again I won’t really know but I’m optimistic and excited.
Deadly WatersThe Suffocating Sea

I’m often asked by readers whether my tough, earthy character, the flawed and rugged Inspector Horton in my marine mysteries, is based on anyone I know. The inspiration for Andy Horton comes from my lifelong love of heroes both fictional (James Bond for one) and real, in particular my former fire fighter husband and the men I have met on his watch and in the Hampshire Fire Service. These fearless men also provided me with the idea for my crime thriller novel, In Cold Daylight which is in fact dedicated to them and to all fire fighters, ‘the true heroes.’

Fire fighters go in to dangerous situations and risk their lives when everyone else is rushing away and my husband has had some very near misses in his career. Inspector Horton is like this. He fearlessly charges in and gets himself into all sorts of difficulties in order to see that justice is done. He’s fit, brave, and a maverick, but he’s also self-contained and controlled with a disturbing past that has made him reluctant to trust and to reveal more of himself than he needs to sometimes earning him a reputation of being cold and unfeeling.

In Cold Daylight, is not an Inspector Horton novel though but a stand alone crime thriller novel, which was inspired by a conversation I overheard on my husband’s watch one day. The fire fighters were discussing the unusually high number of their colleagues who had contracted cancer and they believed it was from exposure to hazardous chemicals in the line of duty. This was never investigated. In the UK the link between fire fighters and cancer is conveniently ignored whereas in America, Canada and Australia it is finally being researched and acknowledged allbeit slowly and with a fight. I decided to take this idea and blend the facts of this case within a dramatic fictional plot, creating a powerful novel, which I am pleased to say was shortlisted for the World Book Day Prize 2008 in the UK.

Instead of featuring a brave fire-fighter hero though in In Cold Daylight, I chose to tell the story through the eyes of a man who is the opposite. This is marine artist, Adam Greene's journey through overcoming depression, a nervous breakdown and leaning on the prop of his strong-willed, ambitious wife as much as discovering why his best friend, fire fighter, Jack Bartholomew, was killed in the line of duty before he can reveal the cause of his own – and his colleagues’ cancer. In a cryptic message orchestrated before his untimely death, Jack has left a trail of clues that will lead Adam into a labyrinth of lies, secrets and conspiracy. http://www.rowmark.co.uk

To fire fighters and everyone who risks their lives to help others I salute you, ‘the true heroes.’

There was certainly a welcome in the hillside and on the banks of the River Tyne for me in the north of England this week during my mini book tour, which kicked off at Newcastle City Library and ended at The Richmond Walking and Book Festival. I met some fantastic people who made me very welcome and very kindly bought tons of my books. Thank you.

The new city library at Newcastle is most impressive and a million miles away from the libraries of old and certainly those of my childhood where nothing above a whisper was permitted. Arranged on several floors with one of those glass lifts through the centre of it, Newcastle Library has air conditioning, computer suites, a thriving café, self service issuing of library books, a massive local collection and a large performance centre and meeting rooms.

The Newcastle of today is also a million miles away from the Newcastle of old with its thriving ship building and coal industry and I felt a little sorry for it and nostalgic for what it had lost. The centre of the City though has some fantastic old buildings and the river is magnificent with its bridges. I’m now going to watch again for the hundredth time that classic thriller, The Clouded Yellow, starring the wonderful Trevor Howard (that voice!) and Jean Simmons, which was filmed in the City in 1950 and released in 1951, and try and pick out the landmarks around the river with its steps and cobbled pavements.

Thank you to Sheila Naughton for inviting me to talk at this thriving library in the heart of a city full of very friendly people.

North Tyneside Library was my next stop and a complete contrast to the Newcastle City Library in design. Here the library is in the traditional style located in an older building and situated on the edge of an extremely pleasant square of impressive architecture and a delightful park, the layout and style reminding me of the centre of London but without the traffic and hordes of people. In fact it was very, very quiet. It was also a very damp evening, but nevertheless many people turned out to hear me talk about my books and how I write my marine mystery crime novels. They all made me extremely welcome and were very warm and friendly.

The success of this event was due to the most efficient organisation skills of Ruth Walton at the library. Also a huge thank you for the massive box of chocolates, which made it safely back on the aeroplane to Southampton airport and onward to home on Hayling Island .

Before North Tyneside Library we toured a little of the coast ending up driving through Whitely Bay, only problem was we couldn’t see much of it because of the mist and rain, which was a pity, but it reminded me of another all time classic film featuring The Likely Lads duo of Bob and Terry (Rodney Bewes and James Bolam) 1976.

Premier Inns once again performed to their usual standard, which, after a couple of false starts, was splendid and after a good night’s rest it was down to the delightful market town of Richmond in North Yorkshire and the cricket club where I was talking at a literary lunch. It was all very civilised, relaxed and enjoyable and huge thanks to independent bookseller Philip Wicks of Castle Hill Bookshop for inviting me to talk at The Richmond Walking & Book Festival. I was in very good company too with fellow crime writers, Peter Robinson, Ian Rankin, and Ruth Rendell – including me that’s the four R’s or the Fab Four?!!

I had a great time. Talked to lots of readers of my books and introduced my work to many new readers. I hope you all enjoy my marine mysteries and my visit as much as I did.

This afternoon I’m on home turf and off to the Lord Mayors Civic Reception as a guest at the opening of our newly refurbished Arts Centre in Havant for tea and cake. Never a dull moment, eh!

Some titles can come instantly, almost the moment the novel hits the page (or rather the computer screen) Dead Man's Wharf was one such case. Others are like pregnancy, taking months to develop and even then when the novel is finished I might still have no idea for a suitable title. A bit like the Horton novel I'm currently working on.

It doesn’t matter when the title comes to me though, what does is that it must suit the novel, and if possible be memorable, although in my experience people rarely remember the title of a novel unless it's been made into a film or a television series. Occasionally the Publisher will help with the title, or can suggest changing it to one they think more appealing or suitable. And titles are often changed in translation to suit the country, and sometimes even when it is an English speaking country but with different spellings of a word. For example, Deadly Waters started out as Deadly Harbour but was changed because of publication in America where 'harbour' is spelt 'harbor.'

There are many different types of crime novel so equally there are many different types of crime novel titles. The title needs to reflect the mood of the book, as well as its structure and tone.

The Suffocating Sea conjures up the body on the burning boat in a marina on a foggy November night and how Horton feels as the novel progresses and he begins to discover some uncomfortable things about his mother's past.

Tide of Death represents the body washed up on the tide and how one death triggers a series as the killer gets more and more desperate to cover his tracks. And Blood on the Sand, reflects the bloody body found in the sand of a bunker on an abandoned golf course on the Isle of Wight. With the Horton marine mystery crime novels I try to add a ‘sea’ element to the title. The stand alone thrillers are slightly different.

Even though these too are set against the backdrop of the sea it wasn't so essential to reflect this in the title. In For The Kill was a title that sprang instantly to mind as Alex Albury will fight to the bitter end to expose the man who stole his identity, framed him and destroyed his comfortable life and reputation. He is out to kill or be killed.

In Cold Daylight started out as The Cold Light of Day. The title represents the fact that Adam Greene, the reluctant hero, emerges from the story a different man than when he started. His journey forces him to relive past traumas and face up to the shame of his mental breakdown on a quest that was forced upon him to discover the truth behind the death of his friend, fire-fighter Jack Bartholomew and several of his colleagues of cancer.

Titles do matter because people can choose a book because of its title, and the look of the cover, especially if it is a new author for them, and one that hasn't necessarily been recommended by someone. And if the book becomes a treasured one then the title will stick, even if the name of the author has been forgotten. http:www.rowmark.co.uk



In Cold Daylight