This is book 7 out of 16, which is very hard to follow as it was my first novel in this series. There are a couple of cases DI Andy Horton (the protagonist) is working on and an ongoing back story. I strongly recommend reading the first book to perhaps better appreciate the series.

Okay, on with the review:

Once again, DI Andy Horton is still dealing with the mystery and trauma of his mother’s disappearance, DI Horton’s bitter divorce, his daughter is now at a boarding school, and a couple of ongoing cases going on at the same time, along with an ongoing back story. Do they have anything to do with one another?
His partner is still DS Cantelli and he’s got his own set of problems in his personal life. DI Horton is still dealing with DCI (Detective Chief Inspector) Bliss, and the rest of the disgruntled characters around them.
The plot had too many twists and turns and was hard for me to follow although I did promise myself to hear it to the end. Too many unlikeable characters, in which I wanted to smack more than 90 percent of them. Even some of the victims' families were not the most likable. I found the politics of the police department aggravating as I’m sure it is everywhere but they were too consumed with making sure they had all the cards so that they could look good (yea, I’m calling you out, DCI Bliss), and they don’t play well together. If this is true to life, I’m grateful for people like DI Horton who may be disgruntled as a person, but he is a good detective.

Too much concentration on why the man was wearing a dress. They kept saying it over and over and I get it, they all thought the person washed ashore was a woman. It was later found the victim was a male, a recently retired postman who was supposed to meet his daughter but never showed. According to the coroner, he was bound, gagged, ungagged only to be thrown into the water to drown. Absolutely the markings of a great mystery. Unfortunately, the author’s story fell flat and was disappointing.
Not my favorite, which is sad because I love a good mystery and a good plot. I felt because I came in the middle of the series, I felt all the names of the characters felt nothing to me. I also felt, not only were there too many characters, there was very little character development, which is surprising, since it is the 7 out of 16 in the series. I do recommend for anyone who was as lost as I was, get a hold of the book. Supposedly, the author included the cast of characters and that might help us keep track of the characters. I heard this as an audio and they did not include the listing. I was also disappointed with the author's writing as she objectified one of the females. “Horton zoomed in on a shapely dark haired woman,”... “throwing a ball to a dark mongrel dog…nice figure, the girl, not the dog.” …reluctantly he turned away from the gaze as she was ruffling the dog’s fur which made Horton jealous of the mongrel." Another scene is "body hugging tight dress.” Out of all the times she wrote, the author did not give any other characters, male or female, any descriptions, and this is what she came up with? Really?!?!

Colin Mace, the narrator did a good job performing the characters which is one of the few things I actually did enjoy. He kept the pacing well considering the story’s plot in itself had too many slow parts. If I hear he is a narrator for another book other than this author’s, I would be inclined to listen to him.

The Chale Bay Murders is the 7th Solent murder mystery featuring DI Andy Horton written by Pauline Rowson. Originally released in 2012 as A Killing Coast, this reformat and re-release from Joffe books is 260 pages and is available in paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately. For Kindle Unlimited subscribers, this book is currently included in the KU subscription library to borrow and read for free. The other books in the series are also currently available on KU.

This is a well written procedural thriller featuring an intelligent and flawed police detective inspector. Although it's the 7th book in the series, with some overarching plot threads from previous books, the author has included enough background that readers won't likely find themselves frustrated, despite the returning ensemble cast.

This installment includes a convoluted, multi-thread action driven plot which includes fraud, art and antiques theft, and glimpses into the lives of the super wealthy. Although some of the central plot is quite outrè (and will require a prodigious suspension of disbelief from the reader), it's well written and fast paced.

With 15/16 books extant in the series, and a 17th due out in 4th quarter 2023 from the same publisher, this would be a superlative choice for a very long binge/buddy read. It does work well enough as a standalone, and the books can be read in any order.

The unabridged audiobook version from Saga Egmont has a run time of 8 hours 19 minutes and is beautifully narrated by Colin Mace. He has a gravelly baritone natural voice and does a really remarkable job narrating a large cast of characters of both sexes and across a range of accents, from Pompey to East London and across a variety of social strata, from dockside rough to cut crystal posh.

Four stars for the book, five for Mr. Mace's virtuoso narration.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

An old man who obsessed in watching the sea from his house. One night he observed some suspicious light out at the sea and decided to call the police.

While the local police reckoned he’s troublesome and no big deal, DI Andy Horton interviewed the old man but Horton agree his points to some degree.

Meanwhile, DI Andy Horton received a call from his team and there was a woman who w was wearing Victorian style dress found decomposing.

The autopsy shocked DI Andy Horton…

This is slow-burnt crime fiction in my opinion. Many storylines with lots of characters, which may create a bit of confusion. Yet I enjoyed the twisty ending but still would love to find out what happened to DI Andy Horton’s mother. A woman who was missing years and let Horton alone.

For the narration, as this story has lots of characters, it should be nice to have two or three narrators for this story.

Fascinating story with twists and turns. Wish I had read previous stories just to have more context but overall absolutely works as a standalone. Look forward to reading more by Pauline Rowson.

Book Title: The Chale Bay Murders ~ Originally published as “A Deadly Wake”
Series: DI Andy Horton Book #7
Author: Pauline Rawson
Narrator: Colin Mace
Publisher: Saga Egmont Audio
Genre: Mystery Thriller,
Pub Rerelease date: Date: July 27, 2023
My Rating: 3.4 Stars
Pages: 289

This is my first book by this author and #7 in the series so I was pleased that the Prologue included a list of characters. It appears faithful readers have long been wanting to know the truth behind the disappearance of Andy's mother Jennifer who went missing thirty years ago when Andy was ten years olden At last it is revealed in this story.
Andy Horton is a Harley-Davidson-riding detective and doesn’t always play by the rules which typically have him at odds with his supervisors. However, Andy cetainly is interesting.
The Narrator Colin Mace did a GREAT job performing the characters

Want to thank NetGalley and Saga Edmont Audio for this Audiobook.
Audiobook Publishing for Rerelease July 27, 2023.

Di Horton has another murder to solve, but before he can he winds up with two more. What do two dead history researchers have to do with this and why is one found wearing a dress. Horton hopes he is getting closer to answers about his mother's disappearance but one step in the right direction seems to end up taking him backward.

An intriguing mystery with a sister mystery along for the ride, and a moment in which I gasped out loud in surprise. Interesting characters, fast pace, dark and gritty, and I will follow the series.

I downloaded this audioARC from NetGalley and had it on in the background while I was doing some admin and then some housework.

It’s the first in the Andy Horton series I’ve read / listened to, and I definitely lacked any interest in what is clearly an ongoing quest to find out what happened to his mother when he was a child, so that he ended up in state care. In fact, I personally found that it interrupted the flow of the case Horton was investigating.

I suspect that those who have read the previous books would not find the flow interrupted in this way, so I’d say that it’s a good read if you like police procedurals (which I do), but probably best read from Book 1.

Three stars from me means I believe the author achieved their aims and that it’s a good book I would recommend to others. I just didn’t fall in love with it personally.

I listened to the audio version of this book, the narrator had a great voice and read the story well. He was good at changing his voices for the characters and was clear with every chapter.

DI Andy Horton is on another murder mystery, when he finds a body in the sea and another body later, he needs to find the killer. A great mystery/murder with a great location and great characters.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for a copy.

Thank you NetGalley for the audiobook copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I’d love to give this book more than three stars, but I can’t. I’m not sure if it was the writers style, the storyline, the narrator- I genuinely cannot point my finger at why- I could not focus on this book. My mind would wander quickly away, turn back and it felt like I didn’t miss anything important and I’d listen until I wandered again.

I could keep the case details in mind, but I couldn’t tell you any characteristics about the detective or how many other people were working on the case. It was my first novel in this series though so perhaps it is because I’m not invested in the background characters.

I can’t say anything negative-everything I heard seemed well written, but it just wasn’t a book I loved.

The Chale Bay Murders
by Pauline Rowson
Narrated by Colin Mace

I received an ARC (advanced reader copy) of this audiobook through Netgalley.

The first 40 minutes I was lost. I haven’t read any other books in this series….so the names meant nothing to me.

Once I got into the meat of the book…that was it. I was a goner. I was hooked.

My only advice for the author: be kinder to those of us newcomers, pretty please.

The narration was solidly done - beautifully recorded from start to finish.

I highly recommend this book to others! This is definitely a mystery author I could read again! Kudos!

⭐️⭐️⭐️ -NetGalley ARC Audiobook

“Meet DI Andy Horton. He’s a risk-taking Harley-Davidson-riding detective who doesn’t always play by the rules which often lands him in trouble with his bosses.
Suspicious lights at sea, decomposing bodies and an old flame send Horton down a rabbit hole in this captivating crime thriller.
An elderly man obsessively watches the coast from his Victorian house high on the hill above Ventnor. When he observes mysterious lights out at sea, he reports them to the police.
The local police think he’s a bit of a nuisance. And when Horton interviews him he’s inclined to agree. A judgement he may bitterly regret.
Meanwhile a call comes through from Horton’s partner, DS Cantelli. A woman’s decomposing body is pulled out of the sea, wearing a Victorian-style dress. The post-mortem gives them a massive shock.
And when another body is found, Horton thinks he’s got a serial killer on his hands.”

This is my first book by this author so I went into it with an open mind, especially since it’s book #7 of the DI Andy Horton series but unfortunately I didn’t enjoy it. I found myself bored and confused. I don’t mind a book with a lot of characters, but this not only had multiple characters but multiple story lines. I hate to disappoint the readers of this series that think they’ll finally get an answer about what happened to Horton’s mom-You don’t.

Thank you to NetGalley and Pauline Rowson for a chance to read and review this book. All thoughts are my own.

A new author to me and I liked the writing style. Although this is #7 in the series, the salient points are recapped and easy to pick up.

DI Andy Horton likes to do things his own way and isn't keen on his boss' yearning for promotion and back-covering. He knows which colleagues like to get the job done and which want to be seen to be important.

Horton initially sets out to investigate the circumstances of his mother's disappearance by meeting a retired police officer who was involved with the case. His investigation gets sidetracked by the discovery of an unusual body in the sea and a visiting super yacht, which it transpires belongs to the husband of his ex.

With all the threads intermingling, Horton is determined to uncover what is really going on, putting himself in danger in the process.

I listened to the audio version of The Chale Bay Murders by Pauline Rowson over one weekend. This is the first book I have read in this series. I may go back and read the previous ones, as I liked the author's writing style.

I enjoyed getting to know the characters in this book, especially DI Horton. Apparently, he has been trying to find out the truth about his mother's disappearance that occurred when he was 10 years old. And we find out what happened! There is a prologue so new readers to this series will understand this part of the story.

I enjoyed listening to the narrator. He had a smooth voice, and it was pleasant to listen to and kept my attention.

The story is full of action and plenty of bodies and suspects to make for a good mystery. A very good story and one I would recommend.

#TheChaleBayMurders #NetGalley @sagaegmont