Walk With Horton: Northney Marina — Peaceful on the Surface

This is Northney Marina, on the northeastern corner of Hayling Island on England's south coast.

At first glance, it's an entirely peaceful place. Boats sit quietly in their berths, the masts move gently in the breeze and the water looks calm.

But for a crime writer, a marina is never quite as innocent as it appears.

Northney Marina is one of the real coastal locations featured in my DI Andy Horton Solent Murder Mysteries. It's part of the landscape of the Solent that I know well and that has provided inspiration for many of my novels.

Andy Horton, my detective, lives on a boat — but not here. His home is at Southsea Marina in Portsmouth.

That's important to me because I wanted Horton to be a detective who is genuinely connected to the sea. He lives aboard his boat, sails, and knows the waters and coastal communities around the Solent. His investigations take him from Portsmouth and Southsea to marinas, harbours, creeks, islands and other locations around this ever-changing coastline.

Northney is one of those places.

Looking beneath the surface

There is something about marinas that works particularly well for crime fiction.

They can look calm and inviting, yet they are places where people come and go, boats arrive and disappear, and the water constantly changes what can be seen.

And there is always that question:

What lies beneath the surface?

That's one of the things I enjoy about using real locations in my novels. I don't have to invent the atmosphere. The landscape, the weather, the tides, the boats and the surrounding communities are already there.

I simply have to look at them differently.

Northney Marina may be peaceful when you visit it, but once you start thinking like a crime writer, you begin to see possibilities.

A boat arriving unexpectedly.

Someone who doesn't want to be seen.

Something discovered in the water.

A meeting that shouldn't be taking place.

Or perhaps simply a detail that catches the eye and starts an entirely different train of thought.

That's often how settings work for me. A place doesn't necessarily provide the whole story. Sometimes it provides the spark.

The real locations behind the Horton mysteries

That's what Walk With Horton is about.

I'm taking you to some of the real coastal locations that have inspired or featured in my DI Andy Horton Solent Murder Mysteries — places around Portsmouth, Hayling Island, Langstone Harbour, Chichester Harbour and the wider Solent.

Some are beautiful.

Some are historic.

Some are remote.

And some look completely ordinary.

But when you write crime fiction, you never quite see a peaceful place in the same way again.

Northney Marina is peaceful on the surface.

But in the world of DI Andy Horton, you never quite know what might be hiding beneath the calm.