Today I am delighted to be joined by David Jackson.

After establishing a successful series of novels featuring New York detective Callum Doyle, David’s new book A Tapping At My Door introduces a new lead character – Nathan Cody.

Character Assassination: Meet Nathan Cody

Who is Nathan Cody? 

Nathan Cody is a Detective Sergeant with the Major Incident Team in Liverpool. Prior to that, he was an undercover cop – a job he loved until things went drastically wrong. What keeps him going is a good heart and a powerful obsession for justice.

Cody arrives carrying a heavy burden of past trauma, is he defined by his vulnerability? 

It doesn’t define him, but his traumatic past is certainly a potent and damaging influence on his life. His arc throughout the series will concern his attempts to rid himself of that menacing shadow.

Cody is hopefully going to return but have you also left scope to write Cody stories pre-dating events in A Tapping At My Door? 

Cody will definitely return soon: I have nearly finished writing the second novel in the series. As we shall see, Cody’s past will continue to haunt him, and so guide his future actions, but there is also ample opportunity to write stories set in his recent history, particularly when he was an undercover cop.

Was it tough to turn your back on Callum Doyle and start with a clean slate?  Have you tried to ensure the two characters do not share similar traits?

I haven’t quite turned my back on Doyle. Bonnier have taken on the rights to those books too, and so the hope is that the two series will continue in parallel. I would say that the two characters are different in many ways. The one thing they do share, for good or for bad, is the sense of humour of their creator!

Will Cody ever meet Callum Doyle? 

I was asked about such a Cody/Doyle ‘mashup’ at my book launch. It’s an intriguing thought, and one that I wouldn’t rule out. I think I could have great fun with that.

A TAPPING AT MY DOOR

A woman at home in Liverpool is disturbed by a persistent tapping at her back door. She’s disturbed to discover the culprit is a raven, and tries to shoo it away. Which is when the killer strikes.

DS Nathan Cody, still bearing the scars of an undercover mission that went horrifyingly wrong, is put on the case. But the police have no leads, except the body of the bird – and the victim’s missing eyes.

As flashbacks from his past begin to intrude, Cody realises he is battling not just a murderer, but his own inner demons too. And then the killer strikes again, and Cody realises the threat isn’t to the people of Liverpool after all – it’s to the police.

Following the success and acclaim of the Callum Doyle novels, A Tapping at My Door is the first instalment of David Jackson’s new Nathan Cody series.

A Tapping At My Door is available now in Hardback and Digital formats. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tapping-My-Door-Gripping-Thriller/dp/1785761072/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1462746307&sr=8-1&keywords=a+tapping+at+my+door