Undercurrent

April 8, 2013
In British author Rowson’s sturdy ninth police procedural featuring Det. Insp. Andy Horton (after 2012’s Death Lies Beneath), Horton investigates the death of naval historian Douglas Spaulding, whose broken body was found at the bottom of a dry dock at the Portsmouth dockyards. Spaulding, who had given a public lecture earlier in the evening, evidently fell from a great height. Horton and Sgt. Cantelli, his competent sidekick, are mystified when their irascible superiors dismiss the case as a suicide. They’re further perplexed when their bosses claim that a marine archeologist, whose body turns up on a private yacht, died of natural causes. A third fatality, the bludgeoning of the last person to see Spaulding alive, is dismissed as a random mugging. Horton suspects a conspiracy, and though warned off the cases, surreptitiously pries on his own. Rowson successfully pilots the complex storyline, filled with wild speculations and a slew of suspects, to a fitting conclusion.

April 30, 2012
In Rowson’s slow-moving seventh contemporary procedural featuring Det. Insp. Andy Horton (after 2011’s Footsteps on the Shore), Horton and his fellow Portsmouth police officers investigate what at first appears to be the accidental death of a woman found floating in the English Channel. Two teenage girls and a 40-year-old woman from the area have been reported missing, but the autopsy reveals that the deteriorated body, which must have been in the sea for some time, is not one of them. Meanwhile, Horton looks into his own mother’s disappearance in 1978, though one has to wonder why it’s taken him so long to pursue this highly personal cold case. Meticulous police work leads Horton to a “particularly callous and ruthless killer” as well as theft and blackmail. Stock supporting characters do what’s necessary to further along the plot, which includes a few unexpected twists.

June 1, 2012
DI Andy Horton (Blood on the Sand, 2010, etc.) misses the mark when he mistakes a murder for an accidental drowning. Even though Colin Yately was dressed in a woman's ankle-length dress when his body was pulled from the Solent, Horton has no reason to suspect foul play in the retired postman's death. It isn't until the next day that Dr. Clayton gives him the bad news: Yately was bashed over the head and deliberately drowned. By then, it's too late to seal up Yately's apartment on the Isle of Wight, which Horton inspected but left unguarded. Sure enough, when DCI Bliss sends him back after a thorough bollocking, he finds a manuscript missing. Also missing is Victor Hazleton, a retired office manager who reported seeing lights on the water the night Yately was most likely murdered. Horton had been distracted by his interview with Adrian Stanley, a retired police officer he thought might be able to shed some light on the disappearance of Horton's mother some 30 years earlier. So he hadn't pursued Hazleton's lead. This omission earns Horton a further reprimand from Bliss, herself distracted by Operation Neptune, designed to thwart a possible caper aimed at the superyacht Russell Glenn has moored in Portsmouth Harbour. When Hazleton turns up in the trunk of a Morris Minor belonging to Yately's friend, retired lawyer Arthur Lisle, Horton begins slowly but carefully to probe the web of crime that links these seemingly innocent pensioners. A generally satisfying puzzler whose hero takes a little too long to connect the dots.

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June 1, 2013

Shortly after naval historian Douglas Spalding gives a lecture, his corpse is found in the dry docks of Portsmouth. While his colleagues seem awfully quick to label the death a suicide, DI Andy Horton can't shake the feeling that this is a homicide. Spalding had been lying about his whereabouts, and then a second death with a similar MO reinforces an Irish connection that puzzles Horton. While finally catching on that something larger is at work (think Interpol), Horton realizes that he can't let go. Concurrently, he's absorbed with his ongoing personal investigation into his mother's disappearance during his childhood. VERDICT Those seeking an outstanding British police procedural will devour the ninth entry in Rowson's sea-oriented series (after Death Lies Beneath). Rowson's plotting is deftly layered, and she successfully captures the mood of her protagonist's tortured journey while creating abundant tension for the main plot of political intrigue.

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2012
It's been decades since DI Andy Horton's mother disappeared when he was just a child. He's never been able to find out what happened, but now he's finally tracked down a cop who worked his mother's case all those years ago. But he has little time to follow up, thanks to another in a string of violent burglaries and the discovery of the body of a man, clothed in a dress, floating in Portsmouth Harbour. Then a second body is found, and Andy discovers a link between this body and the dead man in a dress. As Andy and his team investigate, they find disconcerting links to a local law firm, an antiques scam, and a long-ago murder that set off a chain of events whose repercussions are being felt even today. The plot is multilayered, twisted, and complex, and while it takes concentration to keep all the characters and clues straight, readers who persevere will be rewarded with a surprising conclusion and a satisfying read.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)

May 1, 2013
Although he's officially on vacation, DI Andy Horton can't help stopping when he sees several police cars near Portsmouth's historic dockyard. But when he approaches, he's almost sorry he didthe ruined, bloodied body of noted Portsmouth naval historian Dr. Douglas Spalding lies at the bottom of a dry dock. Although Andy's fellow cops are certain that Spalding's death is suicide, Andy isn't so sure. Already in hot water with his bosses, he figures he'll investigate the case despite their warning to leave it alone. When another body is found in mysterious circumstances, Andy is sure he's onto something. But what? When his own life is threatened, Andy is at first angry, but then he begins to see possible links to the long-ago disappearance of his mother. Is he imagining things, or are the two deaths in Portsmouth really related to what happened to his mother? As usual, Rowson offers up a thorny, multifaceted plot; a profusion of unusual twists; a likable yet complex hero; and plenty of fast-paced, knuckle-biting action.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)