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Every crime novel begins with a question.
For The Oyster Quays Murders, that question was simple:
What if a body was hidden beneath the tarpaulin in Number One Dock in Portsmouth's Historic Dockyard?
The inspiration came from a visit to Portsmouth Historic Dockyard.
Standing there, looking at HMS M.33, I was struck by the atmosphere of the place. Here was a remarkable survivor of World War One, a ship that had witnessed history, sitting quietly in a dock surrounded by centuries of naval heritage.
And then my crime writer’s imagination took over.
What if something terrible had happened there?
What if beneath the tarpaulin at the bottom of that dock next to the historic vessel there was something nobody expected to find?
A body.
And so the idea for another DI Andy Horton mystery began.
HMS M.33 is one of only three surviving Royal Navy ships from World War One and the only surviving vessel from the Gallipoli campaign.
Today visitors can explore this remarkable ship and discover what life was like for the sailors who served aboard her. But when I first visited, she wasn’t open to the public.
The mystery surrounding the ship, the dockyard and the surrounding harbour provided the perfect atmosphere for a murder investigation.
A Rain-Washed Portsmouth Night
In The Oyster Quays Murders, DI Andy Horton is returning from London late at night on his Harley-Davidson.
Rain lashes down.
Police lights flash outside Portsmouth Historic Dockyard.
Horton should simply continue home.
He isn’t officially on duty.
But anyone who knows Horton understands that walking away from a mystery isn’t something he does easily.
Inside the dockyard, a naval historian has disappeared after giving a lecture.
Then his body is discovered.
The investigation begins.
Real Places, Fictional Crimes
One of the things I love about writing the DI Andy Horton series is bringing real locations to life.
Portsmouth Historic Dockyard.
The harbour.
The waterfront.
The places where history and modern life meet.
These locations already have stories to tell.
My job as a writer is to ask:
What if?
Because every location has secrets.
And every secret has a story.
See the location map of where all the DI Andy novels are set.
Pauline Rowson lives on the South Coast of England and is the best selling author of many crime novels, published by Joffe Books. Her popular crime novels include the DI Andy Horton Solent Murder Mystery series, the Art Marvik mystery thrillers and the 1950s set Inspector Ryga mysteries. Subscribe to her newsletter for all the latest books news.
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