And why Brandon Blake?
Some readers and booksellers have asked why I created a new series. This usually is followed by the question: you aren’t abandoning Jack, are you?
No. Jack and Roxanne are live and well, due back in DAMAGED GOODS (February 2010). They return with their daughter Sophie. Preview: You think Jack and Clair played rough before. Wait until you see someone threaten Jack’s child.
But back to the question: Why Brandon Blake?
Answer: I’d written eight Jack McMorrow novels in a row. It was time to write a novel with a third-person narrator.
Writing in the first person is fun, and offers an opportunity to get inside the head of your protagonist. The down side is that it makes it tougher to get inside the head of any other character. Yeah, you can do it in dialogue. Yeah, you can develop a character through his or her actions. Yes, other characters can assess them. But I couldn’t go where Jack wasn’t. I couldn’t be with someone as they snuck up behind him. I couldn’t tell you what a bad guy was thinking when he followed Roxanne. I couldn’t get fully inside another character’s head.
So in PORT CITY SHAKEDOWN, I did just that. I told the story from different points of view. What does Mia think of Brandon, as she’s thinking it? Why is Fuller the way he is? What is Nessa thinking as she pours that fifth glass of wine?
It was fun, a good change of pace. And then, writing DAMAGED GOODS, I went back to looking at the world through McMorrow’s eyes. That was like jumping back on a bicycle. Off we went.
In PORT CITY SHAKEDOWN, the first Brandon Blake novel, Brandon gets a full dose of bad guys. A brawl in a funeral home introduces him to Joel Fuller, a sociopathic hustler. Fuller is fresh out of jail and determined to take Brandon out—after Fuller and his sidekick Kelvin shake him down.
Rocky isn’t a tough guy. He’s a skinny little kid with crooked glasses, and he shouldn’t be homeless in Portland, Maine. When McMorrow and Roxanne pluck him from under the stomping feet of a gang of street kids, Rocky latches onto McMorrow–and drags him into a world of murder, both old and new. Why is McMorrow protecting Rocky? The cops want to know. Why is Rocky on the run? McMorrow wants to know. Why does death follow in Rocky’s wake? Jack and Roxanne need to find out before they’re added to the list. 
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Gerry, the site looks great. Can’t wait to read your new, multi-POV novel. Sounds like a good one. Congratulations.
Sue
da best. Keep it going! Thank you
My husband and I have been waiting or a new Jack McMorrow book. Guess we have to wait a little longer but will try out the new Brandon Blake book. If it is anything like the McMorrow series it has to be good. Really enjoyed them.