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DI Andy Horton #11
Shroud of Evil
Detective Inspector Horton of Portsmouth CID is assigned the case of a missing person: Jasper Kenton, a private investigator. Eunice Swallows, Kenton's partner, seems reluctant to help them, and Horton concludes that she is probably relieved to be rid of him. He instructs Sergeant Cantelli and DC Walters to put out the usual alerts, believing Kenton has probably run off with another woman.
But when Kenton's car turns up, and a shocking discovery is made, things turn serious. Immediately, Horton finds himself embroiled in an investigation that has major personal ramifications and one in which he has no choice but to withhold vital information. As he struggles to crack the case, he knows it is only a question of time before someone discovers he's kept silent and when that's revealed, his part in hindering a major investigation will end his career . . .
But when Kenton's car turns up, and a shocking discovery is made, things turn serious. Immediately, Horton finds himself embroiled in an investigation that has major personal ramifications and one in which he has no choice but to withhold vital information. As he struggles to crack the case, he knows it is only a question of time before someone discovers he's kept silent and when that's revealed, his part in hindering a major investigation will end his career . . .
224 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 2014
389 people are currently reading
138 people want to read
About the author
Pauline Rowson
57 books141 followersPauline Rowson is the author of twenty-nine crime novels - eighteen featuring DI Andy Horton in the Solent Murder Mystery series; four in Art Marvik mystery thrillers series, five in the 1950s set historical mysteries with Scotland Yard's Inspector Ryga, who is sent out to solve baffling coastal crimes and two standalone thrillers. All her crime novels are set against the backdrop of the ever changing sea.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
May 13, 2019
This story has way too many complicated facets…. all of which involve many suspects who each had various motives…adequate opportunities… and a quagmire of unanswered questions. I'll have to say that the story was interesting but only up to a point, and then it rapidly galloped straight down hill. In spite of the fact that there was another murder after Kenton’s, the story stalled…if anything it became even more complicated. The author made matters even worse by introducing a host of new characters in the last few chapters. This was a major distraction when the reader had to try to sort out who these people were and what did they have to do with the victims thus far. By the time that the murderer was revealed, I had lost interest and I just did not care any more. I gave the book 3 stars mainly because like another reviewer had said, I enjoyed the first part as much as I disliked the remainder. The reader will need a lot of patience to make it through this book.
September 2, 2022
Another great read from Pauline Rowson. The mystery of Andy Horton's mother seems a lot harder to solve that his 'normal' cases. It's certainly more twisty! Though just what he will do once (if) he gets the answers, I have no idea. Perhaps try to have a normal life.
Currently reading
September 28, 2023Joffe Books disc 99
November 28, 2023
The main character, DI Andy Horton, is divorced, has a daughter Emma who he rarely sees, rides a motorcycle and lives on a boat. Just your typical cop. His immediate boss, DCI Bliss, hates him and would love to be rid of him. His overboss, Supt. Uckfield, doesn't seem to like him, but occasionally is forced to respect him. These two characters seem to serve no other purpose in the plot than to make life harder for Horton, or to emphasise how bolshie he is. We learn that Horton made a mistake in an undercover operation and ended up being falsely accused of rape, which is the reason he is on the nose with senior police. It's not much of a surprise, as he seems to be a bull at a gate type of person. He's also on an ongoing crusade to find out what happened to the mother who abandoned him. In short, he's a very anguished person, and a lot of this story is about this stuff. Let's also throw in a MI5 connection, an arch-nemesis, just to take tension up a level. Not that this nemesis appears in the story, he is mentioned from time to time as a sort of puppet master.
I felt like the emphasis was unbalanced against the actual crime investigation, which meandered around an ever-increasing cast of characters. In the end, although we get an answer of sorts to the crime, there is no resolution, which I found disappointing.
Whodunnit lovers will probably be frustrated as only a twist near the end reveals the truth.
This isn't the first of this series that I have read, and now I feel uncertain as to whether to seek out any more of them.I prefer my heroes to win, not just end up bloodied but unbowed.
Rating 3.1.
I felt like the emphasis was unbalanced against the actual crime investigation, which meandered around an ever-increasing cast of characters. In the end, although we get an answer of sorts to the crime, there is no resolution, which I found disappointing.
Whodunnit lovers will probably be frustrated as only a twist near the end reveals the truth.
This isn't the first of this series that I have read, and now I feel uncertain as to whether to seek out any more of them.I prefer my heroes to win, not just end up bloodied but unbowed.
Rating 3.1.
June 17, 2024
Too Many Characters with Similar Names
I really wish the Authors imagination lent itself to developing characters with names that weren't so similar. This poor choice causes the reader to become weary. Trying to figure out who is who with Horton, Normand, Veerman. Then there is Ames and Lomas. All too similar and creates confusion. I don't care to read a book where I have to go back pages to figure out who is who. I like this series, yet, I'm taking a break because the Author's Editor should have already provided this advice. Yet here we are. Otherwise a good book. Very sloppy editorial insight. On top of that, I submitted three typos. Joffee needs to tighten up their publishing standards.
I really wish the Authors imagination lent itself to developing characters with names that weren't so similar. This poor choice causes the reader to become weary. Trying to figure out who is who with Horton, Normand, Veerman. Then there is Ames and Lomas. All too similar and creates confusion. I don't care to read a book where I have to go back pages to figure out who is who. I like this series, yet, I'm taking a break because the Author's Editor should have already provided this advice. Yet here we are. Otherwise a good book. Very sloppy editorial insight. On top of that, I submitted three typos. Joffee needs to tighten up their publishing standards.
August 1, 2022
A Good Series
Book 11 in the series and I am still enjoying it. DI Andy Horton is investigating the death of a private investigator, but it seems every person they speak to has a different view of him so who is the real Jasper Kenton? The investigation takes Andy to the Isle of Wight along with DS Barney Cantelli who hates being on the water. Andy is still on the trail of his mother who went missing when Andy was a child. He is not going to give up until he knows the truth. This is a really good series, only slight problem for me is that there are so many characters I have trouble keeping track of everyone. This is not a criticism of the author, I think it says more about me!
Book 11 in the series and I am still enjoying it. DI Andy Horton is investigating the death of a private investigator, but it seems every person they speak to has a different view of him so who is the real Jasper Kenton? The investigation takes Andy to the Isle of Wight along with DS Barney Cantelli who hates being on the water. Andy is still on the trail of his mother who went missing when Andy was a child. He is not going to give up until he knows the truth. This is a really good series, only slight problem for me is that there are so many characters I have trouble keeping track of everyone. This is not a criticism of the author, I think it says more about me!
August 4, 2022
Another mind challenging instalment in this fabulous series by one of the best crime writers around. This book combines a fiendishly intricate plot with major advances in Horton's quest for the truth about the disappearance of his mother 30 years ago. If you've read the previous 10 books then you'll be embroiled with the turbulent life of D I Andy Horton. If you have not read them all I urge you to do so in order to fully comprehend the background and the main characters in this wonderful series.
July 23, 2022
Riverting
I have read the whole series to now and it holds your interest with every new book.
Can't wait for next book
I have read the whole series to now and it holds your interest with every new book.
Can't wait for next book
September 26, 2023
Brilliant
Another brilliant storey unfolds slowly keeping you guessing and turning the pages to the very end thoroughly enjoyed reading this book
Another brilliant storey unfolds slowly keeping you guessing and turning the pages to the very end thoroughly enjoyed reading this book
August 5, 2024
Jasper Kenton, p.i. has disappeared partner of Swallows Investigation. Then a body is discovered, the first. DI Horton investigates.
An entertaining modern mystery
An entertaining modern mystery
Read
May 29, 2020Hello, Just thought I'd let you know a little bit more about this re-issued Inspector Andy Horton mystery. This mystery novel explores the corrosiveness of secrets. It plunges the flawed and rugged detective, Andy Horton, into a complex murder investigation in which he is forced to withhold vital information because of his own secret and his fear of exposure, even though he knows that in doing so he is putting his professional career on the line.
What drives people to keep secrets? Is it out of shame, or from fear, or guilt? Is it for safety and security? For the protection of oneself or of others? Is it to preserve a way of life, or for sanity or vanity? How far would you go to protect a secret? Would you risk your job for it, your friends your family? Would you kill for it?
In SHROUD OF EVIL there are many secrets. Why does private investigator Jasper Kenton keep so much of his private life secret from his business partner, Eunice Swallows? What are the secrets between ophthalmic consultant Brett Veerman and his lonely wife, Thelma, which trap them in a cold and hostile marriage? Why is someone forced to kill in order to keep those secrets? And why doesn’t Andy Horton tell his boss, the ice maiden, DCI Lorraine Bliss, about his secret – the fact that he’s trying to uncover the truth behind his mother’s disappearance over thirty years ago? Why does he withhold vital information from the head of the major crime team, Detective Superintendent Uckfield?
Along with secrets come lies, and where there are secrets and lies there will be exploitation. It is this exploitation that ultimately leads to murder in SHROUD OF EVILl.
Withholding a secret can hurt, so can revealing it. For Horton revealing his quest to uncover the truth of his mother’s disappearance means exposing his emotions, something he’s learned the hard way never to do because it would make him vulnerable and vulnerability is there to be exploited by others.
Secrets can be kept for years, as they have been by those involved in the murder investigation in SHROUD OF EVIL but it is one person’s determination to expose a secret and exploit it for his own gain that rips apart the fabric of many lives. And once a secret is exposed nothing is ever the same again.
"A compelling protagonist and mounting suspense make the book hard to put down." Publishers Weekly
What drives people to keep secrets? Is it out of shame, or from fear, or guilt? Is it for safety and security? For the protection of oneself or of others? Is it to preserve a way of life, or for sanity or vanity? How far would you go to protect a secret? Would you risk your job for it, your friends your family? Would you kill for it?
In SHROUD OF EVIL there are many secrets. Why does private investigator Jasper Kenton keep so much of his private life secret from his business partner, Eunice Swallows? What are the secrets between ophthalmic consultant Brett Veerman and his lonely wife, Thelma, which trap them in a cold and hostile marriage? Why is someone forced to kill in order to keep those secrets? And why doesn’t Andy Horton tell his boss, the ice maiden, DCI Lorraine Bliss, about his secret – the fact that he’s trying to uncover the truth behind his mother’s disappearance over thirty years ago? Why does he withhold vital information from the head of the major crime team, Detective Superintendent Uckfield?
Along with secrets come lies, and where there are secrets and lies there will be exploitation. It is this exploitation that ultimately leads to murder in SHROUD OF EVILl.
Withholding a secret can hurt, so can revealing it. For Horton revealing his quest to uncover the truth of his mother’s disappearance means exposing his emotions, something he’s learned the hard way never to do because it would make him vulnerable and vulnerability is there to be exploited by others.
Secrets can be kept for years, as they have been by those involved in the murder investigation in SHROUD OF EVIL but it is one person’s determination to expose a secret and exploit it for his own gain that rips apart the fabric of many lives. And once a secret is exposed nothing is ever the same again.
"A compelling protagonist and mounting suspense make the book hard to put down." Publishers Weekly
July 11, 2014
DI Andy Horton - it is clear from the start of this book - is a misfit who does not see eye to eye with his superiors. He is divorced, doesn't see his daughter, Emma, as much as he would like to and is trying to track down his mother who apparently abandoned him as a child and left him to be brought up by foster parents. It is clear he also has issues with other people in the geographical area in which he works.
In this case a local private detective, Japer Kenton, goes missing and his body is later found on a private beach belonging to Richard Eames who appears to be an adversary of Horton's though he never appears in person in this book. I did enjoy this book but I felt I was often one step behind the action - maybe because this is book eleven in the series so I'm not familiar with all Horton's personal problems.
The plot is complex with many strands and many people 'off stage' with influence who never actually appear in the story. Apart from police investigations there are M15 aspects to the story as well which adds an extra layer of complexity. The book is well written and I felt the characters were interesting and believable even if I never really got to grips with all aspects of the story. I'm sure fans of this series will love it and I may go back and start at book one and see if it grows on me. I received a free copy of this book for reviews purposes from NetGalley.
In this case a local private detective, Japer Kenton, goes missing and his body is later found on a private beach belonging to Richard Eames who appears to be an adversary of Horton's though he never appears in person in this book. I did enjoy this book but I felt I was often one step behind the action - maybe because this is book eleven in the series so I'm not familiar with all Horton's personal problems.
The plot is complex with many strands and many people 'off stage' with influence who never actually appear in the story. Apart from police investigations there are M15 aspects to the story as well which adds an extra layer of complexity. The book is well written and I felt the characters were interesting and believable even if I never really got to grips with all aspects of the story. I'm sure fans of this series will love it and I may go back and start at book one and see if it grows on me. I received a free copy of this book for reviews purposes from NetGalley.
July 14, 2014
You need your wits about you to keep up with the DI Andy Horton Novels; so complicated and multi-layered are the plots. Shroud of Evil is book eleven in the marine mystery series - and they just keep getting better.
In this story a Portsmouth-based PI goes missing, then his car is found at the apartment of the man he has been investigating. It’s some time later before the PI’s body turns up on a private beach on the Isle of Wight, wrapped in an old sail cloth. The secretive and wealthy Lord Richard Eames, whom Horton believes holds the key to the mysterious disappearance many years earlier of his mother, owns the beach.
Like Pauline Rowson’s other books in the series, this is a convincing police procedural, strong on detail and fast on action.
Damaged by his past, and the disappearance of his mother when he was a child, the young Andy was shunted from one children’s home to another.
He is a loner, living on his yacht in a Portsmouth marina, and constantly frustrated by the efforts of his ex-wife, Catherine, to keep him from his beloved young daughter, Emma.
His friend, DS Barney Cantelli, is one of the few people he trusts, and together they set about unraveling the twists and turns of a case that comes close to defeating them.
In this story a Portsmouth-based PI goes missing, then his car is found at the apartment of the man he has been investigating. It’s some time later before the PI’s body turns up on a private beach on the Isle of Wight, wrapped in an old sail cloth. The secretive and wealthy Lord Richard Eames, whom Horton believes holds the key to the mysterious disappearance many years earlier of his mother, owns the beach.
Like Pauline Rowson’s other books in the series, this is a convincing police procedural, strong on detail and fast on action.
Damaged by his past, and the disappearance of his mother when he was a child, the young Andy was shunted from one children’s home to another.
He is a loner, living on his yacht in a Portsmouth marina, and constantly frustrated by the efforts of his ex-wife, Catherine, to keep him from his beloved young daughter, Emma.
His friend, DS Barney Cantelli, is one of the few people he trusts, and together they set about unraveling the twists and turns of a case that comes close to defeating them.
November 5, 2016
It was hard to get over the initial onslaught of characters, and the feeling that the direction of the story wasn't clear. But I stuck with it, largely due to the affability of the well written main protagonist, who I felt an affinity to in some ways. That is the best I can say about this book.
It was hard to distinguish "fact" and "fiction" amongst the musings of the detective. That and the back story that runs through, presumably with the intention of enticing the reader into buying further novels, lead to a confusing narrative. There were too many irrelevances, all of which I suppose the author hoped would misdirect the reader and offer up options on "who dunnit", but in retrospect, they seem pointless.
I almost stopped reading after a handful of chapters. I don't regret that I didn't, but won't be rushing out to get hold of the follow on.
It was hard to distinguish "fact" and "fiction" amongst the musings of the detective. That and the back story that runs through, presumably with the intention of enticing the reader into buying further novels, lead to a confusing narrative. There were too many irrelevances, all of which I suppose the author hoped would misdirect the reader and offer up options on "who dunnit", but in retrospect, they seem pointless.
I almost stopped reading after a handful of chapters. I don't regret that I didn't, but won't be rushing out to get hold of the follow on.
December 18, 2021
Started of a very interesting read then we went into very muddy waters and got very complicated. In the end it was left way up in the air and was a very damp squid. We have andy horton with all the usual baggage as an inspector trying to solve murders and getting there in the end ,but so many unanswered questions are left , so for me it was a very unsatisfying read and i would,nt bother buying this book.
June 25, 2014
Although necessarily somewhat contrived to enable our series character to make progress in solving the case of his missing mother, this proves a highly enjoyable read.
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June 15, 2015
Pace was slow...not nearly as good as the last book I read in the series.
May 26, 2018
Getting closer to finding out what happened to his mother
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews