January set crime novels

What better way to kick off the year than to join DI Andy Horton in three contemporary set gripping investigations in the Portsmouth area on the South Coast of England, and Inspector Alun Ryga on an intriguing case in Brixham Devon in 1951.

THE ROYAL HOTEL MURDERS (no. 4 in the series of currently 17).

Detective Inspector Andy Horton has a lot on his plate.  A celebrity receives threatening phone calls. A nursing home resident assaulted. A man found in a gravel pit with several of his fingers severed.

Perry Jackson and his team are filming a new TV series about wrecks in the Solent and staying at the large and luxurious Royal Hotel on Portsmouth’s seafront.  Shortly after they’ve checked in, Jackson receives a series of threatening phone calls telling him to watch his back and you’ve been warned. Horton thinks it’s a publicity stunt to promote the new TV show.

Meanwhile at the Rest Haven Nursing Home, Mrs Kingsway says she’s been assaulted by an intruder, but there’s no sign of a break-in. The staff thinks she’s lost her marbles, but her son wants action from the police.

And now a man in diving gear is found dead in Oldham’s Wharf. Several of his fingers are missing.  The pressure is on. Detective Horton’s deep in a web of intrigue, deception and corruption that stretches back into the past. Can he find his way back and stop a killer?

(Please note this was previously published as Dead Man's Wharf).

'Horton is my new favourite detective- life continually kicks him in the teeth but he always gets up again until he finds the murderer(s)!' Yvonne, Amazon

After that case DI Andy Horton decides to take a sailing break around the Isle of Wight in January but even then trouble follows him....

THE ISLE OF WIGHT MURDERS (5) opens on a cold grey January morning in Bembridge Marina on the Isle of Wight, where Andy Horton has decided to put in on his small yacht. It's hardly the sailing season but after a difficult Christmas - his first spent apart from his young daughter, Emma - and following some tough criminal investigations, Horton has decided to take a few days break.

Sailing helps him to relax but he barely gets the time to do so when walking across the abandoned golf course on the Duver near Bembridge Marina he finds himself facing a distraught young woman with a gun in her hand leaning over a corpse in one of the discarded bunkers.

When Thea Carlsson professes to be the dead man’s sister and psychic, Horton’s old adversary, DCI Birch of the Isle of Wight's Criminal Investigation Department, is convinced she is mentally disturbed and the killer, but Horton is not so sure. He finds himself drawn to Thea, perhaps because he recognizes someone who, like him, is haunted by their past.

While investigating the murder of Thea's brother, Horton also has some personal problems to deal with, such as trying to get access to his eight year old daughter, Emma, despite his estranged wife, Catherine's attempts to prevent him.

As the murder investigation in THE ISLE OF WIGHT MURDERS unfolds, Horton finds himself deep in a web of intrigue that has its roots in the past.

(Please note this was previusly published as Blood on the Sand.)

'Great protagonist and lots of odd turns and fantastic ending.'

"I had to read it right away, it's a terrific book -- I'm really impressed with the way you make characters so complex and endearingly human (no matter how evil) ... in often just a few sentences. And Andy gets more intriguing all the time!" Catherine

A year later and DI Andy Horton is in Guernsey in January when a body is found on the Guernsey Ferry

In THE GUERNSEY FERRY MURDERS (13) Horton is on Guernsey in the Channel Islands on the trail of a fresh clue into his mother's disappearance, Jennifer Horton, over thirty years ago. It doesn't seem to lead him anywhere and he is about to dine with his old friend, Inspector John Guilbert, of the States of Guernsey Police whenGuilbert calls him to view the body of a woman on the ferry that has sailed from Horton's patch, Portsmouth, earlier that morning.

It looks to be natural causes or suicide. It's not Horton's case. But as soon as Horton returns to Portsmouth he's called in to investigate the death of a vagrant found lying partially covered under a rotting houseboat, close to where Horton lives on board his small yacht in Southsea Marina. This time it's clearly murder.

Troubled by the many unanswered questions surrounding both deaths, Horton must call upon all his skills and intuition to solve a complex case, uncovering dark secrets that lead to destruction.

(Please note this was previously published as Lethal Waves)

See where all the DI Andy Horton Solent Murder Mysteries are set.

'It never ceases to amaze me how Pauline keeps the twists and turns coming without giving too many clues which would compromise the narrative. A strongly recommended read.' Amazon

'This whole series has me gripped from start to finish. Stories are superb and there's always that underlying thread of Andy Horton's search for his mother. Can't wait to read the next exciting book.'

Travel back to January 1951 with Inspector Ryga historical mystery (3) DEATH IN THE NETS

It's a cold wet night in January 1951, the body of a man stabbed through the heart is found tangled up in fishing nets in Brixham Harbour, Devon. Scotland Yard's Inspector Ryga is on the case.

In DEATH IN THE NETS, Ryga again teams up with former war photographer Eva Paisley who summons him to Devon. She's been staying with a friend, a refugee from Belgium who has settled down in England with her nine year old son, Jean- Claude.  Jean-Claude is convinced he saw a body on the shore ‘all bashed up’ and claims a mermaid took it away. It’s all he’s been talking about for a week!

Intrigued, Ryga asks Jean-Claude to take him and Eva to the harbour. And sure enough a man’s body is there, wrapped in nets, with a stab wound to the heart.

Jean-Claude was right. But how can the body have been there for a week?  Who is the victim? And what prompted the little boy to come up with the idea of a mermaid?

Ryga begins to investigate, but the discovery of another body throws him into turmoil.  Someone is killing to keep their secrets hidden. And with Ryga needs to find out who before more murders are committed.

See a map of where the Inspector Ryga historical mysteries are set.

'As usual Pauline Rowson keeps you guessing until the very end of Death in the Nets with many twists and turns.' A. Porter Amazon

'Another brilliant story. You can almost feel you're there with the characters. Looking forward to the next book.' Kindle Customer

Check out the other books in the Inspector Ryga and DI Andy Horton Solent Murder Mystery series on this website

'Absolutely brilliant books.  Best read I’ve had in ages. Would highly recommend these books.' Amazon

Available on Amazon Kindle and in paperback, so why not grab your copies now!