A welcoming U3A listens enraptured to tales of criminality

On 19 June 2014 I had the pleasure of speaking to members of a very friendly and welcoming U3a at Ringwood, Hampshire. Ringwood is an historic market town in Hampshire located on the River Avon, on the western edge of the New Forest. It’s situated between Southampton and Bournemouth. Ringwood had a long history of a thriving hand knitting industry. I knew I should have taken my knitting with me. It became famous for its "Ringwood" woollen gloves, which were knitted in either cotton or wool 4 ply, and on fairly thick needles. Ringwood gloves were knitted commercially until after the Second World War.

But it wasn’t to talk about knitting that I was there but about my crime novels.

I'm continuing my theme of looking back at my talks because of the absence of them since the Covid-19 crisis banned all social gatherings in Britain.  But it won't be long now (hopefully) to when I can post a brand new LIVE talk on my website as I am booked to do my first talk since lock down in March 2020 on 27 July 2021 to Portsmouth U3A.

I entertained members of the audience with tales of the dogged Portsmouth cop, DI Andy Horton and explained how I plot, research and write the DI Andy Horton series and my other crime novels all of which are set on the South Coast of England, in Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight. 

I talked about the inspiration behind the Horton novels and my two standalone crime novels, In Cold Daylight and In For The Kill. After the talk there followed, as usual, a very lively Q & A session and a book signing.

The enigmatic sailing detective  DI Andy Horton now features in fifteen crime novels with TIDE OF DEATH the first in the series and A DEADLY WAKE number fifteen.  I am currently writing number sixteen (2021). There are also now four in the Marvik, mystery thriller series, with SILENT RUNNING the first, DANGEROUS CARGO (2), LOST VOYAGE (3) and DEAD SEA (4) published in March 2021.

Since this talk I have written a new crime series with Scotland Yard detective, Inspector Ryga, who is sent out to solve  baffling coastal crime. The first is set on Portland Island, Dorset - DEATH IN THE COVE, the second in Newhaven, East Sussex - DEATH IN THE HARBOUR, and number three, DEATH IN THE NETS, set in Brixham, Devon to be published on 4 October 2021.

Inspector Andy Horton Mystery no. 15

Number 15 in the DI Andy Horton series set against the backdrop of the sea on the South Coast of England in Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight

As DI Andy Horton follows the trail of a man found dead in a log cabin on the Isle of Wight, he uncovers some startling revelations into his own mother’s past and the truth behind her disappearance over thirty years ago.

Published in paperback, ebook, on Amazon Kindle and Kobo order on line and from all booksellers

DEATH IN THE COVE is available in paperback, e book, Kindle and audio book.

When the body of a man dressed in a pinstriped suit is discovered by war photographer, Eva Paisley, in a secluded bay on Portland Island, Dorset, Inspector Alun Ryga of Scotland Yard is sent to investigate.  Recently promoted, the thoughtful, observant Ryga, is on his first solo investigation outside of London, and is keen to prove his worth. Ignoring the warnings of the local police inspector, and the Dorset Chief Constable, that his trust in Eva Paisley is misjudged, Ryga quickly realises that her observations could provide the breakthrough he needs in a complex murder investigation and the answer to the haunting circumstances that have sent the man in the pinstriped suit to his death.

Myra Swinley is convinced that her police constable husband’s death was no accident, and that he would never have lost his footing on a dark, foggy November night on the quayside of Newhaven Harbour while on his beat. Determined to get to the truth she visits Scotland Yard to ask his former friend, Detective Superintendent Street, to investigate.   Street says they have no basis to do so, but when Myra fails to return home from her visit to the Yard, Inspector Ryga is sent down to the Sussex coast to investigate. 

Accompanied by former war photographer, Eva Paisley, who has been airlifted back to England after suffering a wound incurred in Korea, Ryga’s investigation soon begins to uncover some puzzling facts.  Painstakingly, and with Eva’s assistance, Ryga begins to unravel the mystery of why an ordinary police constable was murdered and his sensible law-abiding wife has gone missing.

DEATH IN THE HARBOUR is available in paperback, ebook, Kindle and audio book.

In addition to the above there are four mystery thrillers in the Art Marvik series, the former Royal Marine Commando now an undercover investigator for the UK's Police National Intelligence Marine Squad.

"Fans of Rowson’s DI Andy Horton books will be delighted with her new series featuring former marine commando Art Marvik.A tense, terrifying thrill ride that twists and turns with dizzying speed, combined with a likable, smart, tough, but all too human hero, make this a cracking-good series—action fans need Marvik on their radar." Booklist