Pauline Rowson's Blog - Posts Tagged "writing"
New Video Interview Uploaded
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.
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.
Wrestling with plot lines
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
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
THE END - or is it?
I was asked the other day how I feel when I tap out the immortal words THE END at the completion of a novel.
The timing of the question was quite eerie because I was just reaching the final pages of the copy edits of my latest DI Horton marine mystery crime novel Blood on the Sand which is being published by Severn House in February next year. It is the fifth in the Inspector Horton series. Reaching the end of this my feelings were relief mixed with anxiety: is it good enough? Should I re-write one more time? Could I have changed anything? Too late…I’ve pressed the send button and it’s gone to my editor. The next time I’ll get to review this will be at proof reading stage and all the anxieties over what, if anything, I should have changed will return. But by then it really is too late to make changes.
So how do I feel when I tap out the immortal words THE END at the completion of a novel? (Although I don’t actually tap out THE END).
It really depends on which draft I am writing. After the first draft there is a feeling of elation - I have finally managed to reach THE END after bashing out, as quickly as I can, somewhere between 80,000 to 100,000 words. With the second draft comes a greater sense of satisfaction that all the ends are beginning to tie up neatly. The third and fourth drafts fine tune the novel and by the time I’ve reached the fifth and sixth I’m beginning to know it backwards, up side down and inside out and can no longer see where the glaring holes are – time to get a second opinion from my editor. But always, no matter how many drafts it takes to get to the final version, when I reach the END I feel a shiver up (or should that be down?) my spine. This can be a shiver of satisfaction or excitement or both, and if I feel that then hopefully my readers will feel it too. And I’m pleased that Inspector Andy Horton has survived another case and will live to solve a new one.
Tide of Death
The timing of the question was quite eerie because I was just reaching the final pages of the copy edits of my latest DI Horton marine mystery crime novel Blood on the Sand which is being published by Severn House in February next year. It is the fifth in the Inspector Horton series. Reaching the end of this my feelings were relief mixed with anxiety: is it good enough? Should I re-write one more time? Could I have changed anything? Too late…I’ve pressed the send button and it’s gone to my editor. The next time I’ll get to review this will be at proof reading stage and all the anxieties over what, if anything, I should have changed will return. But by then it really is too late to make changes.
So how do I feel when I tap out the immortal words THE END at the completion of a novel? (Although I don’t actually tap out THE END).
It really depends on which draft I am writing. After the first draft there is a feeling of elation - I have finally managed to reach THE END after bashing out, as quickly as I can, somewhere between 80,000 to 100,000 words. With the second draft comes a greater sense of satisfaction that all the ends are beginning to tie up neatly. The third and fourth drafts fine tune the novel and by the time I’ve reached the fifth and sixth I’m beginning to know it backwards, up side down and inside out and can no longer see where the glaring holes are – time to get a second opinion from my editor. But always, no matter how many drafts it takes to get to the final version, when I reach the END I feel a shiver up (or should that be down?) my spine. This can be a shiver of satisfaction or excitement or both, and if I feel that then hopefully my readers will feel it too. And I’m pleased that Inspector Andy Horton has survived another case and will live to solve a new one.
Tide of Death
The perfect system for writing a novel
"Once they find a favourite way of getting their words on paper - or screen - novelists normally stick with it, says Philip Hensher," in the Daily Telegraph recently, and that is true because it takes a writer some time to evolve the perfect system that works for him or her. It did with me anyway.
Before I struck on the 'perfect system' I tried all sorts of ways of compiling my research, plots and character outlines, from using note books to wall maps, to A4 folders. None of them worked. The A4 folders looked nice and neat, all properly indexed, but because of my civil service training my mind told me that something in a file, was 'filed away,' actioned, finished with and a novel is a work in progress, or at least it is with me until I am holding the actual printed book in my hand. Notebooks worked for a while but I got tired of flicking through various pages trying to find the precise piece of information I needed, when I needed it. And they weren't much use for containing the research pulled off the Internet, and from other sources. Wall maps were soon a no,no. They looked messy and very rapidly got covered with notes pinned over them. So what next?
I'm not really sure how I evolved my current system of working but gradually it came together so that now all my plot lines and character outlines are executed in pencil on recycled bits of A4 paper. The plot line and each character outline is held together by a treasury tag (or India Tag). The individual characters have their name flagged up at the top of the paper. The research from various sources is then tagged on to that character and/or the plot line, and all this stays on my desk in a three tiered tray system until the novel is finished and sent to my editor, when it moves to a table behind my desk and sits there while it progresses to the printed version and I turn to writing the next novel. Nothing is filed away until the novel in question has been printed.
As to the actual writing tool - then it is straight on to the computer for me, so easy for editing.
Developing the method that works for a writer is much like developing his or her style of writing. It takes time, and trial and error until something clicks and, as the man says, once you find what works for you, you usually stick with it.
Visit the Pauline Rowson official web site for more about this author at http://www.rowmark.co.uk
Before I struck on the 'perfect system' I tried all sorts of ways of compiling my research, plots and character outlines, from using note books to wall maps, to A4 folders. None of them worked. The A4 folders looked nice and neat, all properly indexed, but because of my civil service training my mind told me that something in a file, was 'filed away,' actioned, finished with and a novel is a work in progress, or at least it is with me until I am holding the actual printed book in my hand. Notebooks worked for a while but I got tired of flicking through various pages trying to find the precise piece of information I needed, when I needed it. And they weren't much use for containing the research pulled off the Internet, and from other sources. Wall maps were soon a no,no. They looked messy and very rapidly got covered with notes pinned over them. So what next?
I'm not really sure how I evolved my current system of working but gradually it came together so that now all my plot lines and character outlines are executed in pencil on recycled bits of A4 paper. The plot line and each character outline is held together by a treasury tag (or India Tag). The individual characters have their name flagged up at the top of the paper. The research from various sources is then tagged on to that character and/or the plot line, and all this stays on my desk in a three tiered tray system until the novel is finished and sent to my editor, when it moves to a table behind my desk and sits there while it progresses to the printed version and I turn to writing the next novel. Nothing is filed away until the novel in question has been printed.
As to the actual writing tool - then it is straight on to the computer for me, so easy for editing.
Developing the method that works for a writer is much like developing his or her style of writing. It takes time, and trial and error until something clicks and, as the man says, once you find what works for you, you usually stick with it.
Visit the Pauline Rowson official web site for more about this author at http://www.rowmark.co.uk
Re writing – pain or pleasure?
Rewriting comes in many guises and brings with it both pain and pleasure. For me it all depends on when I am rewriting. If I have to rewrite on the editor's request then it is a pain, because, by then, I am already well into the next novel. If it is during the revision stages of a novel (before it has been sent to my editor) then it is often a pleasure with one BIG exception, and that is when I am struggling with the ending. Here I want to make the novel as exciting as possible and, it being a crime novel, I want to surprise the reader, and myself, which sounds a bit loony but although I often think I know who the villain/killer is, it sometimes turns out to be someone completely different. And that means a rewrite. Once I've cracked the ending though there is a certain pleasure in going back over the novel taking it apart, questioning each word and passage, exploring, and generally testing my prose until I feel it is the best I can possibly do, and even then I always feel I could do better!
I ask myself as I am rewriting if there are sections that I want to skip over, are there enough peaks in the novel and places where the reader can pause to catch his or her breath? Does each chapter finish on a hook compelling the reader to read a little bit more... and more...?
Is there a section that I am fond of but really adds nothing to the pace and body of the novel? If so then it has to go, no matter how painful. I simply dump it into another word file on the computer. Have all the loose ends been neatly tied up? Is the story told in the right voice?
I first wrote In Cold Daylight in the third person singular point of view through the eyes of my reluctant hero, Adam Greene, but when I reached the end of the first draft I knew it wasn't right. So I decided to change it to the first person, but still through Adam's eyes, and that made it a much more gripping novel. It's fun sometimes to play around with different voices, chapters or sections and this is where writing on a computer with the cut and paste facility is such a boom.
There are many courses that aim to teach you how to write, or how to write better, and they have their advantages, but nothing beats actually doing it and then experimenting: taking it apart, exploring different styles of writing, trying out different words and different characters. This gives you an understanding of how you use words on the page. It is painful, but if you enjoy writing (and let's face it why else would you be doing it unless you enjoy it) then it is also a pleasure.
More can be found on my blog http://www.paulinerowson.com and on my official website http://www.rowmark.co.uk
I ask myself as I am rewriting if there are sections that I want to skip over, are there enough peaks in the novel and places where the reader can pause to catch his or her breath? Does each chapter finish on a hook compelling the reader to read a little bit more... and more...?
Is there a section that I am fond of but really adds nothing to the pace and body of the novel? If so then it has to go, no matter how painful. I simply dump it into another word file on the computer. Have all the loose ends been neatly tied up? Is the story told in the right voice?
I first wrote In Cold Daylight in the third person singular point of view through the eyes of my reluctant hero, Adam Greene, but when I reached the end of the first draft I knew it wasn't right. So I decided to change it to the first person, but still through Adam's eyes, and that made it a much more gripping novel. It's fun sometimes to play around with different voices, chapters or sections and this is where writing on a computer with the cut and paste facility is such a boom.
There are many courses that aim to teach you how to write, or how to write better, and they have their advantages, but nothing beats actually doing it and then experimenting: taking it apart, exploring different styles of writing, trying out different words and different characters. This gives you an understanding of how you use words on the page. It is painful, but if you enjoy writing (and let's face it why else would you be doing it unless you enjoy it) then it is also a pleasure.
More can be found on my blog http://www.paulinerowson.com and on my official website http://www.rowmark.co.uk
Pauline Rowson presents prizes and certificates to the winner and shortlist of the Young Crime Writers' Award
On Saturday 30 April I was delighted to announce the winner of the Young Crime Writers' Competition 2011 for the southern area at an awards ceremony at Portsmouth Central Library, and present certificates to the shortlisted entrants from across the south.
George Neame, (16) from Bognor Regis, West Sussex was awarded first prize for his entry The Photograph and will now go forward for the National finals in June. Ewan Murphy (10) from Winchester was Highly Commended for his entry Schoolhouse Murder.
I shortlisted fifteen young writers aged between eleven and seventeen from a total number of entries of one hundred and twenty one that came from across the region including, Southampton, Portsmouth, the Isle of Wight and West Sussex.
The competition was organised by the Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) of which I am a member and writers aged up to 18 were invited to submit 1000 words of crime fiction through their local library. The winner of the national final will be announced during National Crime Writing Week (13-19 June).
George Neame received a certificate, a £10 book token and a copy of two of my DI Andy Horton crime novels, Dead Man’s Wharf and Blood on the Sand. The national winner will receive an engraved pen, a selection of signed books, and a weekend pass for the winner and one accompanying adult, including one night’s accommodation, and tickets to the Gala Dinner at Crimefest 2012 an International annual convention which draws top crime novelists from around the world.
George Neame is an extremely talented young writer. He was highly commended last year and a deserving winner this year. His descriptions and dialogue were excellent, the story was intriguing, with good pace and very well written. I’ve no doubt that if he continues with his writing we will see his published novels one day.
I was also impressed with Ewan Murphy’s entry. For a young man of ten he shows remarkable talent.
All the shortlisted entries were of high quality. I’m delighted to see so much interest from young people in writing and I’m very grateful to all who entered and to Portsmouth, Southampton, the Isle of Wight and West Sussex libraries for helping to organise this highly successful event.
You can read more and see photographs from the event on my web site http://www.rowmark.co.uk or my blog http://www.paulinerowson.com
George Neame, (16) from Bognor Regis, West Sussex was awarded first prize for his entry The Photograph and will now go forward for the National finals in June. Ewan Murphy (10) from Winchester was Highly Commended for his entry Schoolhouse Murder.
I shortlisted fifteen young writers aged between eleven and seventeen from a total number of entries of one hundred and twenty one that came from across the region including, Southampton, Portsmouth, the Isle of Wight and West Sussex.
The competition was organised by the Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) of which I am a member and writers aged up to 18 were invited to submit 1000 words of crime fiction through their local library. The winner of the national final will be announced during National Crime Writing Week (13-19 June).
George Neame received a certificate, a £10 book token and a copy of two of my DI Andy Horton crime novels, Dead Man’s Wharf and Blood on the Sand. The national winner will receive an engraved pen, a selection of signed books, and a weekend pass for the winner and one accompanying adult, including one night’s accommodation, and tickets to the Gala Dinner at Crimefest 2012 an International annual convention which draws top crime novelists from around the world.
George Neame is an extremely talented young writer. He was highly commended last year and a deserving winner this year. His descriptions and dialogue were excellent, the story was intriguing, with good pace and very well written. I’ve no doubt that if he continues with his writing we will see his published novels one day.
I was also impressed with Ewan Murphy’s entry. For a young man of ten he shows remarkable talent.
All the shortlisted entries were of high quality. I’m delighted to see so much interest from young people in writing and I’m very grateful to all who entered and to Portsmouth, Southampton, the Isle of Wight and West Sussex libraries for helping to organise this highly successful event.
You can read more and see photographs from the event on my web site http://www.rowmark.co.uk or my blog http://www.paulinerowson.com
I've nearly finished writing the first draft of the next in the DI Andy Horton marine mystery crime series
I've now written 70,000 words of the next DI Andy Horton marine mystery crime novel which will be number eight in the series. Number seven, A Killing Coast, is scheduled for publication in hardcover early in 2012. As soon as I have the jacket image and more information on the publication details of A Killing Coast I will obviously post them on my official web site. Meanwhile there is the paperback and e book version of the sixth in the DI Horton series, Footsteps on the Shore, to come, more about that on my web site next week.
I was looking back on my blog to last year's entries when I was writing A Killing Coast and saw that on July 2 2010 I had written 10,000 words so I'm pleased that I am so far ahead with this new Horton novel, which I have promised to get to the publisher in January 2012. So far, so good.
Writing a first draft is always exciting but it is also irritating because I am so keen to get everything on to my PC as quickly as possible, while my head is swimming with the plot and sub plots.
I try to resist editing too much as I write the first draft because this slows down the creative process and it is very easy to get hooked on editing and therefore postpone finishing the novel. However, because I research as I go along some editing is inevitable.
Now, on this new Horton novel, I am at the stage when I am eager to bash out the final few chapters as quickly as possible, which I should be able to do over the next week, or couple of weeks at the outside. Then I can have the wonderful pleasure of going back through the novel, adding character details, refining plot and sub plot, adding colour and depth, inserting clues and red herrings, and making sure that everything ties up and Andy Horton lives to fight another crime in DI Horton marine mystery crime novel number nine!
I was looking back on my blog to last year's entries when I was writing A Killing Coast and saw that on July 2 2010 I had written 10,000 words so I'm pleased that I am so far ahead with this new Horton novel, which I have promised to get to the publisher in January 2012. So far, so good.
Writing a first draft is always exciting but it is also irritating because I am so keen to get everything on to my PC as quickly as possible, while my head is swimming with the plot and sub plots.
I try to resist editing too much as I write the first draft because this slows down the creative process and it is very easy to get hooked on editing and therefore postpone finishing the novel. However, because I research as I go along some editing is inevitable.
Now, on this new Horton novel, I am at the stage when I am eager to bash out the final few chapters as quickly as possible, which I should be able to do over the next week, or couple of weeks at the outside. Then I can have the wonderful pleasure of going back through the novel, adding character details, refining plot and sub plot, adding colour and depth, inserting clues and red herrings, and making sure that everything ties up and Andy Horton lives to fight another crime in DI Horton marine mystery crime novel number nine!
Great to see DI Horton novel Footsteps on the Shore on London Underground Poster
I was thrilled to see my DI Andy Horton crime novel Footsteps on the Shore advertised on the London Underground and at major London Railway Stations alongside my fellow crime writer, Mark Billingham's book Good as Dead. This is to promote Portsmouth BookFest during which Mark and I are appearing at CSI Portsmouth on 5 November at John Pounds Centre, Portsmouth along with crime authors, John Harvey, Michael Ridpath, Bob and Carol Bridgestock and with the police, fingerprint team, forensic psychologists and crime scene experts. It promises to be a great day and tickets are selling fast.
I'm also now giving a talk at CSI Portsmouth on Writing the Crime Novel. Looking forward to it.
Full programme and booking details can be found on my website at http://www.rowmark.co.uk CSI Portsmouth 2011.
Footsteps on the Shore
I'm also now giving a talk at CSI Portsmouth on Writing the Crime Novel. Looking forward to it.
Full programme and booking details can be found on my website at http://www.rowmark.co.uk CSI Portsmouth 2011.
Footsteps on the Shore
Writing a Crime Novel - new talk at CSI Portsmouth by Pauline Rowson
Unfortunately owing to personal circumstances Dr Neil McCaw whose talk was to be on Victorian Crime Fiction at CSI Portsmouth on Saturday 5 November has had to withdraw from the programme. I will be stepping in to take his place in addition to being on the panel event in the afternoon. I won't be talking about Victorian Crime Fiction though but about writing a crime novel. My talk will take place in the morning of Saturday 5 November between 10.00am - 11.00 am and again between 11.30am - 12.30pm. Sorry to disappoint all those who were looking forward to Dr McCaw's talk but hopefully I can make up for it in some small way.
Here are the details:
Writing A Crime Novel - plotting, researching and writing the crime novel
If you've ever wondered where crime writers get their ideas from, how they turn those ideas into complex plots and sub plots, how they research for their novels and how the fiction compares with the fact now is your chance to find out.
Pauline Rowson is the author of the DI Andy Horton Marine Mystery Crime Novels set in the Solent area. She is an accomplished and entertaining speaker and draws the inspiration for her popular crime novels from the Solent area where she lives. Her crime novels have been highly acclaimed both in the UK and the USA and have been translated into several languages. She is also the author of two thrillers one of which the award winning In Cold Daylight was voted by the public as the third best read for World Book Day 2008
CSI Portsmouth Morning Programme 10.00 - 12.30 am - choose two sessions to attend, one between 10am- 11am and another between 11.30am - 12.30pm
Forensic psychology – How realistic is the forensic psychologist portrayed on television detective programmes and in crime novels? Lucy Wainwright will discuss this and many aspects of her fascinating work
Fingerprinting – Fact versus Fiction – Jane Aston from the Fingerprint bureau at Police Support Headquarters, Hampshire, gives an intriguing insight into how it really works.
True Crime – In Charge Of Murder – How a real murder case is worked, former Detective Superintendent Bob Bridgestock tells it like it is.
Writing A Crime Novel - plotting, researching and writing the crime novel, using the Solent area for setting and inspiration - Pauline Rowson author of the DI Andy Horton Marine Mystery Crime Novels
CSI Portsmouth Afternoon Programme 2pm - 5pm
Join International best selling crime authors, Mark Billingham, John Harvey, Michael Ridpath and Pauline Rowson, and police and forensic experts: Dr Claire Nee, Dr Paul Smith, an expert in crime scenes; Hampshire Police – Major Crime Team Senior Investigator and Scene of Crime Officer for this lively panel debate where crime fiction meets crime fact.
4pm Book Signing and a chance to talk with the crime authors on an individual basis
CSI Portsmouth Tickets
Tickets on sale from the Box Office + 44 (0)23 9268 8685.
Tickets cost £5 for the morning and £7 for the afternoon with a discounted ticket of £10 for the whole day and includes £3 off the price of a book bought at the event.
Here are the details:
Writing A Crime Novel - plotting, researching and writing the crime novel
If you've ever wondered where crime writers get their ideas from, how they turn those ideas into complex plots and sub plots, how they research for their novels and how the fiction compares with the fact now is your chance to find out.
Pauline Rowson is the author of the DI Andy Horton Marine Mystery Crime Novels set in the Solent area. She is an accomplished and entertaining speaker and draws the inspiration for her popular crime novels from the Solent area where she lives. Her crime novels have been highly acclaimed both in the UK and the USA and have been translated into several languages. She is also the author of two thrillers one of which the award winning In Cold Daylight was voted by the public as the third best read for World Book Day 2008
CSI Portsmouth Morning Programme 10.00 - 12.30 am - choose two sessions to attend, one between 10am- 11am and another between 11.30am - 12.30pm
Forensic psychology – How realistic is the forensic psychologist portrayed on television detective programmes and in crime novels? Lucy Wainwright will discuss this and many aspects of her fascinating work
Fingerprinting – Fact versus Fiction – Jane Aston from the Fingerprint bureau at Police Support Headquarters, Hampshire, gives an intriguing insight into how it really works.
True Crime – In Charge Of Murder – How a real murder case is worked, former Detective Superintendent Bob Bridgestock tells it like it is.
Writing A Crime Novel - plotting, researching and writing the crime novel, using the Solent area for setting and inspiration - Pauline Rowson author of the DI Andy Horton Marine Mystery Crime Novels
CSI Portsmouth Afternoon Programme 2pm - 5pm
Join International best selling crime authors, Mark Billingham, John Harvey, Michael Ridpath and Pauline Rowson, and police and forensic experts: Dr Claire Nee, Dr Paul Smith, an expert in crime scenes; Hampshire Police – Major Crime Team Senior Investigator and Scene of Crime Officer for this lively panel debate where crime fiction meets crime fact.
4pm Book Signing and a chance to talk with the crime authors on an individual basis
CSI Portsmouth Tickets
Tickets on sale from the Box Office + 44 (0)23 9268 8685.
Tickets cost £5 for the morning and £7 for the afternoon with a discounted ticket of £10 for the whole day and includes £3 off the price of a book bought at the event.
How long does it take you to write a crime novel?
It's always a scary moment when I press that send key and the completed MS for the next DI Andy Horton crime novel wings its way through the ether to my publisher, but yesterday was D Day and off DI Horton number eight went. I always think, could I have spent a bit longer on it? Should I have changed this or that? But there comes a point when you've done all you can and it's time for a fresh pair of eyes to be cast over it.
I'm often asked how long it takes me to write a crime novel and I usually answer about nine months. I started writing the eighth in the DI Horton series on 13 April 2011 and five revisions later there it is completed, so just over nine months seems to be a comfortable timescale for me and allows me to have one crime novel a year published. I was also pleased to have completed this DI Horton bang on time because I promised my editor he'd have the completed novel in January 2012.
And what does DI Horton get up to in this new crime novel? Ah, you'll have to wait a bit longer to find out. Perhaps when my editor gives the green light on it I'll publish the title and blurb here. Meanwhile, number seven in the series, A Killing Coast, was published this month in hardcover, hopefully that will keep Horton fans satisfied until the next instalment.
A Killing Coast
When a body is found floating in the sea off Portsmouth harbour, Detective Inspector Horton initially judges it to be an accidental death. Soon though, to his dismay, he discovers he’s got it very wrong. Accused of being incompetent by his boss, and with the head of the Major Crime Team coming down heavily on him, Horton wonders if he’s allowed his ongoing investigation into the disappearance of his mother over thirty years ago to cloud his judgement. With no clear motive for the murder, Horton is sucked into a baffling investigation that he is determined to resolve despite the odds. Not only does he need to find a brutal killer, but Horton now has to prove to himself, and others, that he is still up to the job.
A Killing Coast
I'm often asked how long it takes me to write a crime novel and I usually answer about nine months. I started writing the eighth in the DI Horton series on 13 April 2011 and five revisions later there it is completed, so just over nine months seems to be a comfortable timescale for me and allows me to have one crime novel a year published. I was also pleased to have completed this DI Horton bang on time because I promised my editor he'd have the completed novel in January 2012.
And what does DI Horton get up to in this new crime novel? Ah, you'll have to wait a bit longer to find out. Perhaps when my editor gives the green light on it I'll publish the title and blurb here. Meanwhile, number seven in the series, A Killing Coast, was published this month in hardcover, hopefully that will keep Horton fans satisfied until the next instalment.
A Killing Coast
When a body is found floating in the sea off Portsmouth harbour, Detective Inspector Horton initially judges it to be an accidental death. Soon though, to his dismay, he discovers he’s got it very wrong. Accused of being incompetent by his boss, and with the head of the Major Crime Team coming down heavily on him, Horton wonders if he’s allowed his ongoing investigation into the disappearance of his mother over thirty years ago to cloud his judgement. With no clear motive for the murder, Horton is sucked into a baffling investigation that he is determined to resolve despite the odds. Not only does he need to find a brutal killer, but Horton now has to prove to himself, and others, that he is still up to the job.
A Killing Coast
