Murder or suicide? East Sussex novelist poses the question...

Robert, known to friends and family as Rob, spent a “lifetime” as proprietor of a well-known plumbing and heating company. He has now been retired for three years.

The e-version of the book is published by KDP.Amazon and the paperback by Amazon.com; Kindle 99p, printed copy £3.99.

Pandora van der Horan becomes embroiled in a suspected murder investigation. Will she get to the bottom of it with the help or hindrance of her friend Rudy? Don’t worry, Panda is on the case.

Rob explains: “In very basic terms this book is a murder mystery, possibly. Or maybe a suicide?

“I wanted to try to write a novel with a strong female lead character and, hopefully, be able to introduce a different point of view. She has her problems, not least her mother, but she’s resourceful and instinctive. It was also my intention to make the story as local as possible and use the town of Eastbourne as the basic location.

“Murder is not meant to be funny and maybe my previous books concentrate on the grim side of life and death. It was my intention of introducing some light-hearted moments into this story and, as a review kindly said, providing some laugh-out-loud moments while still keeping you guessing.

“I am currently working on another in what will hopefully blossom into a series of Panda novels.

“I’ve written six novels to date, most of a thriller or mystery format. Some are set locally, others in more distant and exotic regions.

“I seem to have always been writing, well since winning a poetry award aged about 11 anyway, but my more serious efforts started about ten years ago with my first novel, Stone Dead At Sunset, being published in 2014.”