Pauline Rowson's Blog, page 32

The inspiration behind the DI Andy Horton novel Lethal Waves

Locations often spark an idea for a new crime novel and while I am out walking the coastal paths of Portsmouth, the surrounding harbours and the Isle of Wight I'm always on the lookout for a good place to put a body! The inspiration for Lethal Waves, Horton's thirteenth outing, came from seeing one of the regular ferry services sail from Portsmouth into the Solent and out around the Isle of Wight on its way to the Channel Islands, the Condor Commodore Clipper Ferry.




Read more about the inspiration behind Lethal Waves

Did you know? Fascinating Forensic Facts

During my research I come across some interesting little forensic facts.






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What's on in April 2017

April sees the publication in paperback of the second in the series featuring undercover investigator, Art Marvik, a former Royal Marine Commando now working for the UK's National Intelligence Marine Squad ( NIMS), Dangerous Cargo. Plus three talks lined up and plenty of writing for crime author, Pauline Rowson.






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Ten killer tips for writing crime fiction

In 2012 the Guardian newspaper ran an article asking writers for their ten rules for writing. I penned my top ten tips for writing deadly crime fiction and now five years later looking back on them they still hold good with one or two little tweaks and additions.




So here they are

Writing crime novels with a continuing series and backstory

In an earlier blog I talked about writing a series of crime novels with a continuing character, i.e. Inspector Andy Horton who appears in thirteen novels, with the latest, Lethal Waves, published by Severn House in 2017.



Andy Horton also has an ongoing backstory, that of trying to discover the truth behind the disappearance of his mother thirty years ago. In this short video taken at a talk I gave I am answering a question regarding the challenges of developing a continuing series and one with an overlapping back story.






Watch the video

Researching Lethal Waves, DI Andy Horton number 13 in the series

The latest in the Inspector Andy Horton crime series, Lethal Waves (no. 13) begins with Horton on the island of Guernsey, part of the Channel Islands, eighty miles south of Portsmouth, (Horton's home patch), following up a lead on the disappearance of his mother, Jennifer, over thirty years ago.



While there he is called out by his friend Inspector John Guilbert of the States of Guernsey Police when a woman is found dead in her cabin on the Condor Ferry sailing from Portsmouth earlier that morning. I asked Condor if they would permit me to have a fictional body on one of their ferries and to my delight they agreed. Not only that but they were also only too happy to assist me with my research. So it was on a rather dull and damp Monday evening in October 2015 that I was welcomed on board the Commodore Clipper ferry at Portsmouth International Port for an exclusive tour.




Read more and see the photographs from my visit to the Commodore Clipper, Condor Ferry

Andy Horton's back story and his quest to discover the truth behind his mother's disappearance

When I created Inspector Andy Horton in Tide of Death I had little idea that he would go on to solve so many murder mysteries. To date there are thirteen in the series with Lethal Waves being the latest published by Severn House in 2017.



In Tide of Death, I knew that Andy Horton had no knowledge of his father and until the age of ten had been raised by his mother in a council flat in a tower block in inner city Portsmouth until one day she failed to return home from working at the casino.




Read more about detective Andy Horton's back story

Video book trailer - Lethal Waves, Andy Horton's new murder mystery

It's Andy Horton's thirteenth mystery since his return to duty at Portsmouth CID. See what's in store for him in his new investigation.



Watch the video book trailer and see how Horton is embroiled in a new murder case that needs all his skills and intuition to solve. A complex case uncovering dark secrets that have led to such lethal waves of destruction.




Watch the video book trailer

Two more library talks lined up for 2017

I'm delighted to announce two more library talks lined up for 2017. Hope some of you can join me. I will giving a talk about my crime novels and crime writing at Bishops Waltham Library 6 April 2017 and Fordingbridge Library on 19 October 2017.




Read more about my forthcoming library talks

How to write a crime novel - writing first drafts

So,
I have the idea and I have the location. I might even have the victim. I
certainly don't have the killer or the plot. I put the idea, location
and victim in a circle and I ask myself open questions: who, what,
where, when, why, and how? I don't have all the answers, in fact I have
very few so I do some research, and some more thinking, and gradually I
begin to answer some of those questions.




Read more about writing first drafts of a novel