The inspiration behind DI Andy Horton Mystery LETHAL WAVES

The inspiration for LETHAL WAVES (13) came from seeing one of the regular ferry services sail from Portsmouth into the Solent and out around the Isle of Wight on its way to the Channel Islands, the Condor Commodore Clipper Ferry.

I started with the idea of a body on that ferry, that of a woman who is found dead in her locked cabin when the ferry docks at Guernsey in the Channel Islands. Of course I asked Condor for their permission to allow me to have a fictitious body on their ferry and was delighted when they agreed and even more so when they offered to give me free reign of the boat and the opportunity to question their staff in aid of my research.

When the ferry docks in Guernsey Andy Horton is on the spot about to dine with his old friend, Inspector John Guilbert, who is mentioned in two of the Andy Horton crime novels, THE SUFFOCATING SEA (3) and FATAL CATCH (12). Horton is there because he is on the trail of a fresh clue into his mother's disappearance, Jennifer Horton, over thirty years ago. Guilbert gets called to view the body and he asks Horton to accompany him because the ferry had sailed from Horton's patch, Portsmouth, earlier that morning. It looks to be natural causes or suicide. It's not Horton's case. He returns to Portsmouth after, disappointingly, the clue he was following up regarding Jennifer seems to be a dead end.

Horton is perplexed as to why the affluent and smartly dressed woman was travelling on the Condor ferry without luggage and had paid by cash. But he gets little time to dwell on it because no sooner does he arrive back in Portsmouth when he is called out to investigate the death of a vagrant under one of the rotting houseboats close to the marina where he lives on board his small yacht. This clearly is murder.