What's your main characters favourite tipples?

With good sailing weather coming up what would DI Andy Horton be found drinking on board?

Probably nothing if he’s concentrating, but if he’s on a good run sailing downwind or has tied off at the helm, he’d reach for a Diet Coke.  If it’s cold, or he’s down in the galley, it would be coffee - strong, black no sugar.  He gave up alcohol following his marital break-up after the false rape allegation that scuppered his marriage and stalled his career.  Desperate, he took off on his small boat in the Solent with the intention of ending it all but the instinct for survival in a tempestuous sea was too strong. In THE PORTSMOUTH MURDERS no. 1 in the series he’s back in Portsmouth CID, with a point to prove - he’s still a good cop and he’s intent on clearing his name. As the DI Andy Horton novels progress he begins once again to find his feet (or should that be sea legs!).

THE CHIDHAM CREEK MURDERS, no 18 in the series is available to pre-order on Amazon and is published on 10 September 2024.

And what about Art Marvik he also has a boat?

Marvik has a powerful motor cruiser, which he  often uses when engaged on an investigation for the UK Police National Intelligence Marine Squad.   He can put the craft on autopilot and take a coffee. Otherwise beer or lager would be Marvik’s preference, or a glass of wine if he is dining out with a potential witness or suspect. Marvik has to keep his wits about him when engaged on a mission so he would drink only modestly. Beside a head injury incurred in combat causing him headaches means alchohol is often off limits.

There are four in the Art Marvik Mystery series and I am currently writing number five.

Then there's Inspector Alun Ryga in 1950s Britain

Ryga is a beer man, not that he would ever over indulge and especially when on duty.  He would have a half a pint of bitter in a pub if he is on an investigation, while Eva Paisley, a professional photographer who sometimes assists him on his investigations likes a whisky.  There is also Sonia Shepherd, former landlady of  The Quarryman's Arms who Ryga met in the first in the series (DEATH IN THE COVE) who Ryga feels a deep affection for.  But Sonia is married and has left the pub either to get away from her abusive husband, a deserter from the army in the Second World War and a con man, or has been pressurized into going with him.  Ryga is very keen to find her.

DEATH ON BOARD is the latest in the Inspector Ryga Mystery series.

May 1951.  Unseasonably cold and dank. Scotland Yard's Inspector Alun Ryga alights from the Paddington to Penzance night train to investigate the death of an eminent Harley Street skin specialist found on his yacht off the small harbour of Mousehole.

All my crime novels are available on Amazon.