Crime experts and authors thrill the audience at CSI Southampton

The audience at CSI Southampton on Saturday 28 October, held at Southampton Library as part of the So To Speak Festival, were enthralled as they listened to the panel of crime experts and crime authors debate crime fiction and crime fact.


Carolyn Lovell, Temporary Deputy Head of Scientific Services, Crime Scene Investigations, Hampshire Police explained how a crime scene is worked and talked about the areas of investigation that have most intrigued her and her successes.

She oversees the provision of forensic services for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight and provides forensic consultancy advice and training to external agencies. She has vast experience in managing numerous serious and major crime scenes and this was clearly evident on the panel and when answering questions from the audience.


With her on the panel was Detective Chief Inspector Mandy Horsburgh from Hampshire Police who talked about her involvement in major crimes including investigating the most serious violent drug-related crimes alongside organized criminal groups and the time she led a major investigation into a Manchester based organised crime group responsible for the large scale drug trafficking across the South Coast including cities of Southampton, Winchester and Brighton.  This
culminated in thirty members of the gang receiving custodial sentences of over a hundred and fifty years and cash asset seizures of just over £750k.

Now Head of Serious Crime and Case Review Team, DCI Mandy Horsburgh spoke about cold cases and the changes in technology which have made the re-examination of such cases and the chance of resolving them possible.


Alongside Mandy and Carolyn on the panel were crime authors Pauline Rowson and Graham Hurley, who talked about their fictional detectives and how they research their plots. Both acknowledged the help that Hampshire Police have given them. They spoke about how they write, where their inspiration is drawn from and the best and worse part of the writing process, agreeing that the best was the first creative writing stage as the novel begins to take shape.


The panel was moderated by Richard Ashman and the audience were invited to ask questions of the crime experts and crime authors. This was followed by a book signing with the books being supplied by the Hayling Island Bookshop.

Hampshire police Fingerprinting Bureau were also present demonstrating the identification of fingerprints, the processes used in the Fingerprint Bureau and the use of Ident1, the National Automatic Fingerprint Identification System (NAFIS). They also offered delegates the chance to have their fingerprint taken and pressed into a key ring to take away.

About the CSI events

Pauline Rowson is the originator of CSI Portsmouth and CSI Southampton and has also been involved in CSI Winchester, CSI Basingstoke and CSI Newcastle bringing together a number of crime experts, police and crime authors to discuss crime fiction versus crime fact.

The events have been hugely popular with audiences who not only have the chance to meet their favourite crime writers but also hear first hand from the people doing the jobs, how a crime scene really works, how detectives in the drug squad, the major and serious crime teams, the cyber unit and marine unit operate. What the fingerprint team and footwear examiners do, the role forensic psychologists and forensic scientists play in the gathering of evidence and the solving of crime.

About Pauline Rowson

Pauline Rowson is the author of eighteen crime novels, thirteen in the police procedural series featuring the flawed and rugged Portsmouth copper, Inspector Andy Horton; three in the mystery series featuring Art Marvik, a former Royal Marine Commando, now an undercover investigator for the UK’s National Intelligence Marine Squad (NIMS) and two standalone thrillers. Her crime novels are set against the backdrop of the ever changing sea on the south coast of England and have been hailed as ‘multi-layered,’ 'complex' 'fast-paced' and 'packed with twists and turns'. They have been translated into many languages and optioned for television.



Her latest crime novels published in 2017 are Lethal Waves, number thirteen in the Inspector Horton series, and Lost Voyage, the third in the Art Marvik mystery series.

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