Pauline Rowson's Blog, page 63

What's in store for 2014

2014 promises to be another productive and interesting year. Here is a summary of some of the forthcoming highlights for me for 2014.

Events

The year kicks off with a talk to a U3A group and a radio interview on BBC Radio Solent in January, the first of many talks and public appearances throughout 2014, which is great. It's always enjoyable to meet readers and to give talks to audiences about how I write my crime novels. Throughout the year I'll be giving talks to U3A groups, Women's Institutes, Professional Clubs, Libraries and other organizations. I'll also be appearing at CrimeFest in Bristol in May, at CSI Winchester in March and then at the annual CSI Portsmouth, which I help to organize, in November.

You can see all my events on my website and I will be adding new engagements as they are booked. If you would like to book me to speak to your organization please contact me via my website at http://www.rowmark.co.uk

You can also view numerous videos of my talks and my books on my You Tube Channel and on my website.

DI Andy Horton crime series

On 1 January the latest in the DI Andy Horton series, Death Surge, was published in America. It is already published in the UK and Commonwealth. It is now also available as an e book.

Then on 27 February, Death Lies Beneath, the eighth in the series will be published in paperback and will also be released as an unabridged audio book, read by the very talented actor, Gordon Griffin.

In April 2014 the NEW DI Andy Horton, number eleven in the series, Shroud of Evil,will be published. More details on this to come.

I will also finish writing the current DI Andy Horton crime novel which is number twelve in the Horton series. The first draft is already completed and I am well on the way with the second draft.

In addition, I am working on the first in a new series, featuring a brand new hero,while also continuing with the next DI Andy Horton.

So plenty happening in 2014.

Here's wishing you a healthy and peaceful 2014.

My round up of the highlights of 2013

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

The DI Andy Horton marine mystery crime novels were published in China in 2013 by Nanhai Publishing Company of Haikou who bought translation rights to six in the DI Horton series published in the UK and USA by Severn House.

Undercurrent, the ninth in the popular marine mystery crime series featuring the flawed and rugged detective DI Horton was published in the UK, Commonwealth in January 2013 and USA in May 2013.

Footsteps on the Shore the sixth in the DI Andy Horton series was published in Large Print on 28 March by Severn House Publishers and as an unabridged audio book in July by Isis Publishing and read by Gordon Griffin who also reads the others in the DI Horton series.

Tide of Death, the first in the DI Horton series, Dead Man's Wharf, the fourth DI Horton crime novel and Footsteps on the Shore, the sixth in the DI Andy Horton series, went Underground in London to help commuters to while away their journey.

Death Surge, the tenth to feature the flawed and rugged DI Andy Horton was published in the UK and Commonwealth by Severn House Publishers on 30 September.

Tide of Death, Deadly Waters, and The Suffocating Sea, the third in the DI Andy Horton series took to the New York Subway for commuters to while away their journey.

A Killing Coast, the seventh in the DI Andy Horton series, was published in paperback and as an unabridged audio book by Isis publishing, read by Gordon Griffin who also reads the others in the DI Horton series.

Severn House Publishers bought World English language rights to the eleventh in the DI Andy Horton series. Shroud of Evil will be published in the UK and Commonwealth in April 2014 in hardcover and in the USA in hardcover in August 2014 when it will also be released as an e book.

I entertained over three thousand people in 2013 with tales of crime writing, murder, mystery and mayhem giving twenty two talks and appearing on five panels around the UK.

I spoke to many more via the wonderful medium of radio with nine radio interviews and media coverage in local and regional press.

On the writing front I finished writing Death Surge which was published in 2013, and also finished writing the eleventh in the DI Horton series, Shroud of Evil, which will be published in April 2014.

I started writing the twelfth in the DI Horton series.

A lovely year. My thanks to all my readers, my publishers, to the libraries and organisations who have hosted my talks, to the audiences who came to hear me, to the press, radio presenters and their listeners, to bloggers and their readers,and to my family, friends and everyone who has supported me throughout 2013. And a special thank you to the hunky DI Andy Horton!

Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas.

Pauline Rowson's official website is at http://www.rowmark.co.uk

Severn House to publish new DI Andy Horton, number eleven in the series, in 2014

Severn House Publishers has 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 hardcover and in the USA in hardcover in August 2014 when it will also be released as an e book and available on all devices including Kindle, Kobo and Nook.

The DI Andy Horton series is set in the Solent area of Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight on the South Coast of England. The series has received some lovely reviews from readers and reviewers in the UK, Commonwealth and the USA where they have been described as 'multi layered, twisted and complex,' 'crisply written, cleverly plotted procedural with a nice twist,''a high quality puzzle with devious plots', 'taut and exciting' and have been likened to the novels of Peter Robinson, John Harvey and Ed McBain.

Undercurrent, the ninth in the series was published in 2013 and Death Surge, the tenth was published in the UK and Commonwealth in 2013 and will be published in the USA on 1 January 2014.

To read more please visit http://www.rowmark.co.uk

Death Surge

A lovely way to round off my talks 2013

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 also a gorgeous English tea complete with cucumber sandwiches, scones with jam and cream, yummie Victoria sponge cake and tea served from teapots in real china cups with saucers - how civilised is that!

I talked for about forty five minutes giving the audience the low down on how I plot my crime novels, how I create characters, where I get my ideas from and how I develop these ideas into crime novels of approximately eighty thousand words.

I also read the prologue from one of my stand alone thriller crime novels, In For The Kill. The audience were then invited to grill me about my crime writing, which they did.

After this and over the splendid and sumptuous tea I signed plenty of books for the avid group of readers.

The full write up of my visit to Sandhurst Library is on my website blog

My thanks to Helen Snow and the volunteers and audience at Sandhurst Library for making my final talk of 2013 such a memorable one.

In for the Kill

What's on in December

It's hard to believe that it's almost Christmas and another year has flown past. December looks like being a fun month with plenty of writing as I finish the first draft of DI Andy Horton number twelve.

On 4 December I'm giving a talk at Sandhurst Library and looking forward to meeting some lovely DI Andy Horton fans and entertaining the audience. My talk is taking place at 2pm with tea and cake, very civilized after a talk about murder, mystery and mayhem.

It is being held at The Broadway, Sandhurst, GU47 9BL Tel: 01252 870161 or email: sandhurst.library@bracknell-forest.gov.uk Tickets £3.

Then on 20 December it's time for the Julian Clegg Christmas Party something I greatly look forward to and which is tremendous fun.

This has become something of an institution, held every year (with the exception of 2012 when Julian was holding another event for charity). It's when Julian Clegg's regular guests (his Julian's People) of which I am one, get together for the breakfast show which is recorded live in the BBC canteen in Southampton. There is coffee and croissants, mince pies and carol singing and Julian with his team go around with microphone and camera and interview everyone there.

It takes amazing stamina for the team to do this, never off air and on the go from 6.30am to 9.30am while the rest of us watch, join in with the singing, eat our breakfasts and have a good old chat.

I'm not sure what time I'll be on air but tune in to the show if you can from 6.30am to 9.30am. It's always very lively, informative, fun and interesting.

The Christmas party at BBC Radio Solent will be broadcast live on Friday 20 December 2013 96.1 103.8FM and DAB Digital Radio.

You can view the slideshow of photographs from the BBC Radio Solent Julian Clegg Breakfast Show Christmas Parties from 2008 - 2011 on my website

Pauline Rowson video interview on the path to becoming a published crime author

I loved adventure and mystery novels when I was young, and this has continued throughout my adulthood with the enjoyment of reading crime fiction. I adore heroes and I think most women do and most men want to be one.

In this video interview just uploaded on my website and to my You Tube Channel I'm talking to Tony Smith about what got me into crime writing, my progression from reading childhood adventure stories to becoming a published crime fiction author and how my marketing skills have helped both with my writing and marketing my novels.

Death Surge

An intriguing visit to the Fingerprint Bureau

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 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 DI Andy Horton crime novel I'm currently writing, number twelve in the series. And I'm obviously pleased that not only were my questions answered but the information I gained threw up some further interesting plot lines, which of course I'm not going to spoil by mentioning here.

The team from Hampshire Police Fingerprint Bureau have always been extremely helpful, turning up as they do for CSI Portsmouth every year in November (a one day event where crime fiction meets crime fact) and also for CSI Basingstoke, which I helped to organise in July 2013, and they'll also be at CSI Winchester, which I'm also involved with, on 8 March 2014. So I have lots of reasons to be grateful to them.

On Saturday, Jane Ashton, Supervisory Fingerprint Examiner, showed me around the modern single storey building named Herschel House appropriately after the father of fingerprinting William James Herschel who was born in Slough on 9th January 1833. He was the grandson of astronomer William Herschel, and the son of John Herschel, also an astronomer but his father asked him to choose another career, luckily for us, and he joined the East India Company.

Following the Indian Mutiny of 1858 he joined the Indian Civil Service and it was here, while drawing up a contract with a local man, that he made him use a hand print in order to prevent him from denying the contract later.

Throughout his life Herschel experimented with fingerprints using them to prevent forgery and as an administrative tool. But it was Francis Galton and Edward Henry, building on the foundations that Herschel had laid, that turned fingerprinting into a tool for fighting crime. And I saw it in action.

Here are some facts from my visit, you can read the full article on my official website blog at http://www.rowmark.co.uk

1. Although the police have a computer system for fingerprints called IDENT1, fingerprints are still physically examined by humans, through an eye glass and careful study.

2. The trained examiners know exactly what to look for and how skin reacts, ages and can be scarred. They can spot a scar and other smaller details that IDENT1 can't.

3. Fingerprints, palm prints and toe prints don't lie. They are unique and even identical twins will have different fingerprints.

4. Fingerprints on objects can survive for a very long time and can be lifted from paint, oil, grease and from those left in blood.

5. Contrary to belief most villains don't wear gloves and even when they do they usually take them off for some purpose and then touch something.

6. The role of the scene of crime officers is to find that mark. The role of the fingerprint examiners are to identify it.

It's a fascinating topic and I enjoyed my visit tremendously. My thanks to Jane Ashton and her team at Hampshire Police Fingerprint Bureau, keep up the good work!

A Killing Coast

DI Horton, A Killing Coast, now in paperback and as an audio book

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, A Killing Coast has received some great reviews.

'Meticulous police work leads Horton to a particularly callous and ruthless killer as well as theft and blackmail…includes a few unexpected twists.” Publishers Weekly

'Multilayered, twisted, and complex...a surprising conclusion and a satisfying read.' Booklist

'If you like police procedurals with a twist, plenty of red herrings, and a strong sense of location, you'll like these.' Mysteries in Paradise (Australia)

Gordon Griffin, narrator of Dead Man's Wharf, the fourth in the DI Horton series, also received a glowing review from Audio File Magazine in the USA.

"Gordon Griffin speaks with an educated British accent, differentiating each character in this mystery through a slight alteration in pitch and cadence. His pace is measured, and his tone is grave... Gordon Griffin's delivery also enhances the story's setting, the Solent area of the south coast of England, with its atmosphere of mist and the scent of the sea... Griffin makes us feel the pain and terror of hidden violence. It's a moving portrayal."

A Killing Coast is set in the Solent area on the South Coast of England and features the flawed and rugged detective DI Andy Horton.

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. 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.

Death Lies Beneath,the eighth in the DI Andy Horton series, will also be released as an unabridged audio book later this year and as a paperback in February 2014.

A Killing Coast

Using time frames when writing a crime fiction series

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 worse that Midsomer Murder on a good day!

DI Andy Horton was thirty nine when I created him in Tide of Death in 2006 and should now be forty six in ‘real time’ but in fictional time he was forty in September. It's said that Agatha Christie regretted making Hercule Poirot sixty when she created him because by the time she finished writing about him he would in ‘real time’ have been about a hundred and eight! In ‘fictional time’ Poirot stayed more or less the same age. I'm not saying that will happen to DI Andy Horton, he may age yet.

Although DI Horton first appeared in 2006 I haven't used that particular year as a benchmark, in fact, as the novels have progressed I've tended to set them in a later year but not specifically the year they have been published. In ‘fictional time’ I have tried to avoid mentioning the actual year they take place.

Following 'fictional time' allows the author to develop the back story. In my case - or rather DI Andy Horton's - it allows me to chart his marital break up, his fight to gain access to his daughter, and the search for the truth regarding his mother’s disappearance over thirty years ago. These are themes that currently run through the series.

One problem when writing police procedural crime novels is that the powers that be i.e. the government in the UK, keep tinkering with the police departments, merging and changing the names and their remits so that it becomes increasingly difficult to keep up with the changes and by the time the novel is published some of the the police departments mentioned could no longer exist in that format.

In the early DI Horton novels the departments mentioned are all correct but as 'real time' has passed some of these departments have changed their names. I could change them and bring them bang up to date but because I have chosen a tight time frame I have decided to leave them for the moment. If, after writing number twelve in the Horton series which I'm currently working on, I decide to leave a gap and jump forward in time then I will change the police departmental names and structure. But you can bet by the time I do that and the novel is published they'll have changed again!

Death Surge, the tenth in the DI Andy Horton series was published in the UK and Commonwealth in September 2013 and will be published in the USA on 1 January 2014.

Death Surge

Marine and serious organised crime on afternoon panel at CSI Portsmouth 2013

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.

Joining CSI Portsmouth in the afternoon were crime authors Natasha Cooper and Sharon Bolton and crime experts Sergeant Tony Birr, from Hampshire Police Marine Unit and Brian Chappell, former DCI New Scotland Yard now a lecturer at the Institute of Criminal Justice Studies University of Portsmouth.

I stepped down from the stage to act as a moderator and put questions to the panel. Natasha Cooper explained how her work in publishing before leaving to write her first novel made her appreciative of how tough it is to be a publisher especially in one of the most fiercely competitive genres, that of crime fiction. Four of Natasha's many novels feature forensic psychologist Karen Taylor who is based on the Isle of Wight. I suggested that perhaps Karen Taylor and DI Andy Horton ought to get together!

Like me, Sharon Bolton studied ballet and tap and spent her early career in marketing and PR which we both agreed was a tremendous help when it came to the discipline of writing, editing and meeting deadlines. Even though our crime novels vary in style we both approach our writing in a similar way by starting with a basic plot line and character sketches before beginning the creative writing and letting the characters develop further.

Brian Chappell joined the Institute of Criminal Justice Studies at the University of Portsmouth as a senior lecturer in April 2011 following completion of a highly successful thirty year career with the Metropolitan Police, New Scotland Yard reaching the rank of DCI. Brian was asked about his work as a DCI where he assisted on many major national and international criminal investigations. As a DCI he enjoyed working in a team directing and overseeing operations.

Sergeant Tony Birr is the officer in charge of the Hampshire Police Marine Unit whose work includes counter terrorism patrols, the reduction and detection of marine crime, investigation of marine incidents and policing large events. Tony talked about how he had been a detective for many years in Leicestershire before getting his dream job as head of the Marine Unit in Hampshire Police.

The Solent, where my crime novels are set, is a major shipping route for passengers, freight and military vessels making it one of the busiest in Europe if not the world. It is an important recreational area for water sports, particularly yachting. Tony and his team are kept busy investigating crimes such as marine theft in and around the area as well as co-operating with other agencies such as Border Control and he told how he had assisted in the recovery of a major haul of drugs discovered in the bulkhead of a motorboat coming in through the Solent.

The panel also debated and questioned the validity of the falling crime figures whether this was actually so in an economic depression and how serious a risk the cut backs to the police service were along with the introduction of civilian investigators which raised questions about the possible demise of the traditional professional police detective.

There were again, as with the morning panel, lots of interesting questions from the audience and a book signing to follow where the audience got to talk to the individual panellists.

CSI Portsmouth 2013 closed at 4.30pm. It was a highly enjoyable, entertaining and informative day with lots of food for thought for individuals to take away.

I'm already looking forward to CSI Portsmouth 2014 on Saturday 8 November 2014.

You can follow CSI Portsmouth on Twitter and on Facebook.

Undercurrent