Researching nautical elements for my crime novels

QUESTION: As your novels are all set around and on the sea does that mean you're an accomplished sailor?

ANSWER: Heck, no! In fact you wouldn’t let me loose on any boat and to be perfectly honest I am a terrified  sailor, although I love the sea.  It’s the opposite case here of a  little knowledge being a good thing. Sometimes the more knowledge you have the more you are tempted to show it and put it in your novels and in so doing you risk the danger of it ending up reading like a manual. The same applies to knowledge of police procedure.  OK, so I need some knowledge of how the police work for my crime novels but if I explained exactly how a major investigation is run then the novel would end up reading like a police manual.  Likewise, if I explained every nautical detail then the novel would be as stagnant as the tidal sludge.

There are things that I need to know though and for this I draw on my husband’s expertise, he is an experienced sailor,  and I consult navigational and distance charts. For  example, I look at whether or not it is feasible for a body to be found where I have  placed it, and if the time frame is correct. This means consulting tide time tables and charts for that time and area. If the murder occurred in the past then I need to know the tide time tables on that day.

And it’s not only the time of the tides but the height that could make a difference to the plot or subplot. Can the type of boat the victim, suspect or my heroes - Andy Horton, Art Marvik or Inspector Ryga - get into a certain harbour on a certain day at a certain time? How deep is the harbour? Does it dry out at low tide? If so then I can’t possibly have the police launch motoring in and out of it whenever it suits them.

The reader will, of course, be unaware of  this research (or I certianly hope so).  And I don’t consider it a drudge conducting the research.  On the contrary I enjoy it and believe it’s important to get it right, because if it is real to me then it will be real to my readers wherever they are: America, China, Australia, the Commonwealth, Europe and the UK. I want the reader to smell the sea, to see it, feel it, taste it and experience it through  the words on the page, and if I can achieve that then that’s what I call a job well done.

 The DI Andy Horton Solent Murder Mysteries are set in and around Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight. View a map of where they are set.

The Art Marvik mystery thrillers are set on the South Coast of England. View a map of where they are set.

The Inspector Ryga 1950s set murder mysteries are set on the coasts of Dorset, East Sussex, Devon, Kent and Cornwall. See a map of where they are set.