
Each art Marvik mystery thriller is a new story with undercover agent Art Marvik working for the UK Police National Intelligence Marine Squad since leaving the Royal Marines. Marvik’s boss, Detective Chief Superintendent Crowder, supplies Marvik with the barest details needed on each investigation because Marvik’s task in each thriller is to go into the case cold, ask questions, stir up danger, and risk his life in order to expose and catch killers. It is what Marvik is good at, facing threats, he’s done it time and time again while on missions for the Royal Marines when he was a Special Boat Services officer.
In DEADLY WAVES (1) Marvik has recently been invalided out of the Royal Marines. Adrift, wondering what lies ahead for him he is seeking refuge in a remote cottage on the Isle of Wight when a former girlfriend shows up with a disturbing story about the murder of a young woman fifteen years ago and her growing belief that the man convicted of it is innocent, Marvik doesn't think much of it until she goes missing. Suspected by the police of not only her abduction and possible murder, but also the disappearance of a computer research scientist, it's clear Marvik is being framed - but by whom and why. Marvik is sucked into a dangerous assignment and a web of deceit that will need all his skills, and those of his friend, former Royal Marine Special Forces Communicator, Shaun Strathen, to get to the truth. Their mission, to stop a ruthless killer before he kills again.
After DEADLY WAVES Marvik finds himself, along with Strathen, working for Crowder on a mission that takes him to Dorset. In DANGEROUS CARGO (2) Marvik is engaged to find the truth behind a fifty year old murder. When an innocent woman is killed during the course of the investigation, Marvik realizes that the stakes are much higher than he’d previously thought. As he begins to uncover a trail of deceit, corruption and murder that spans over half a century, Marvik must confront a ruthless killer who will stop at nothing to make sure that his dangerous cargo of sins of the past stay in the past.
It is this murder in DANGEROUS CARGO, that of marine archaeologist, Sarah Redburn, which is a key element in FATAL DEPTHS (4). But before that, Marvik embarks on a third investigation in LOST VOYAGE (3) when Detective Chief Superintendent Crowder, asks Marvik to investigate the disappearance of a salvage vessel, the Mary Jo, which went missing in 2003 when detailed to tow a Russian cruise ship out of Newfoundland to Britain for recycling. This was when a trans-Atlantic row was raging over the disposal of thirteen American toxic warships destined for Hartlepool in the UK for recycling. The warships, which had lain in the James River in Virginia for decades, contained hundreds of tonnes of hazardous substances, including asbestos, heavy diesel, mercury, lead-based paints and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).
The Mary Jo in LOST VOYAGE never reaches her destination. Then a decade later someone claims to have found her. It is a claim that leads to a trail of deaths because the secret of the Mary Jo must never be revealed. Marvik, working undercover is tasked to discover what that deadly secret is and in so doing locate and stop another ruthless assassin.
To return to DANGEROUS CARGO (2) though, not only is Sarah Redburn killed but Marvik also discovers a three-and-a-half inch floppy disk in her belongings with his late father’s handwriting on it. He postpones the questions surrounding its contents and why Sarah should have it and places it in his safe deposit box in his London bank putting off asking computer expert Strathen to open it and reveal its contents. When a month later Marvik goes to retrieve it he finds it missing. When others connected with his parents’ past and their deaths go missing, and murder is committed, Marvik’s quest in FATAL DEPTHS becomes deadly dangerous in his bid to discover the truth behind his parents’ deaths.
Number five in the Art Marvik series LETHAL STORM (5) sees Marvik fresh from finding out the truth about his parents deaths and facing a new challenge involving his former Royal Marine Commando and friend, Shaun Strathen. Marvik's used to high-stakes operations. But nothing has prepared him for what awaits in the coastal town of Ballycotton, Ireland.
Marvik receives a disturbing call from the Garda. His friend and former comrade, Shaun Strathen, is missing. His yacht’s been found drifting in Ballyandreen Bay. But there’s no sign of Strathen. A cryptic note is discovered onboard: Art, sorry it’s come to this. Look after things for me. Per Mare, Per Terram. Marvik wastes no time. He heads straight for Ireland, determined to find his friend. His search leads him to a cottage by the sea. A decomposing body is discovered inside. It’s not Strathen. If the body isn’t his comrade’s, then who is it? And where the hell is Strathen?
As Marvik digs deeper, the truth begins to unravel, but so do the dangers.Can Marvik survive this lethal storm long enough to expose a network of criminal masterminds, and save his friend?
I really enjoyed researching and writing the fifth book in the Art Marvik mystery thriller series and hope you enjoy reading it.
So that's the Marvik mystery thriller series so far. Will there be another? Possibly...
"This fast moving highly relevant thriller is truly unputdownable."
"What I loved most is the emotional undertow: this isn’t just a hunt for the truth, it’s a reckoning. Marvik pushes through grief, grit, and gut instinct, and the novel never loses its pulse or focus for a second. Rowson’s pacing is a masterclass—brisk, brutal, and beautifully controlled."
" I really enjoyed this, the writing was brilliant, fast paced but the attention to detail was incredible, the descriptions of things from sights to sounds and even smells were so accurate that I found myself recoiling from my kindle at times..
"The clues were left open ended until the mystery was solved to allow us as the reader to come up with our own conclusions and then have them blown out of the water… obviously."
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.