SILENT RUNNING

The creator of DI Andy Horton (Shroud of Evil, 2014, etc.) launches a new series straight into the River Solent.

Art Marvik earned the scars on his face as a commando in the Special Boat Services, but he now earns his living as a private maritime security operative. His last operation didn’t go so well; pirates attacked Marvik and Lee Addington on Harry Salcombe’s yacht, and Salcombe was killed. But Shaun Strathen is eager to hire Marvik anyway, hoping he can find Ashley Palmer, a research scientist who’s gone missing while working for Chiron, Strathen’s biggest client. Before he can build up much steam, Charlotte Churley, an old girlfriend, shows up unexpectedly at Marvik’s digs. Charlotte’s a nurse with the Commando Forward Surgical Team, and the father of Terence Blackerman, a soldier in her care, was a former navy chaplain now in prison for murder. Charlotte is convinced that the devout Blackerman could never have killed Esther Shannon and wants Marvik to help her prove it. Marvik’s skeptical, but the next day, Charlotte drops out of sight, and he feels that his best hope of finding her lies in the Shannon murder case. He grabs his boat and motors up the Solent to Southampton, where Charlotte was last seen at Town Quay, and back down to the Isle of Wight. He interviews DS Philip Crowder and DCI Duncan Ross, who worked the Shannon case. But when he hooks up with Helen Shannon, Esther’s sister, the case heats up in ways even a seasoned ex-commando couldn’t have predicted.

Rowson’s series debut is action-packed, but not different enough from the Horton oeuvre to provide any new take on crime on England’s south seacoast.