James Booker

James Booker is a character created by author Adrian Ferdy, the main character of his various detective and crime works. The name of the character comes from Professor James Moriarty of the Sherlock Holmes books, which were the primary inspirations for the series, while the surname Booker was picked as Ferdy considered it to be a very strong name that went well with the first name.
Booker lives in the fictional Saxton City and is charaterized as a genius private investigator with autism, a fact that is brought up frequently throughout the books. Partly due to it, he has an eye for minute details and often makes connections where others see none. Despite eccentricities that he posseses, many are aware of his keen deductive skills and he is hired by people ranging from those in the middle class to higher-ups that border on aristocracy. Throughout the series, Booker showcases various anti-social tendencies and does not grow out of them, which is played for both comic relief and serious drama depending on the circumstance.
== Overview ==
=== Inspiration ===
James Booker was primarily inspired by Sherlock Holmes, though other inspirations for him were Joe Friday from the series Dragnet and Raymond Babbitt from the film Rain Man.
Many of Booker's eccentricities were inspired or directly lifted from Holmes. For example, like Holmes, Booker plays music to help himself think and has an interest in insects. However, Holmes would play violin music and was fond of bees, while Booker is stated to only be able to play one song on the piano (Für Elise) and is interested in insects of all kinds, able to rattle off multiple facts about several genera. Booker is also outright compared to Holmes by a criminal in his first book, though in a mocking way.
The interrogation scenes from many of the Booker stories are directly inspired by the interrogation scenes from Dragnet, with Booker using sheer logic and boxing the culprit/witness in with overwhelming evidence. Like Friday, Booker also has a tendency to give speeches while speaking to criminals, though in Booker's case these speeches are given to himself as he thinks out loud and the criminal merely overhears it. Booker's tendency to speak to himself and odd speech pattern in general was inspired by both Raymond Babbitt and the character Rorschach from the comic Watchmen. Like the two characters, Booker's way of speaking makes it clear to people that he doesn't think the same as them, with some people even correctly guessing Booker is autistic based on the way he speaks.
The film Rain Man in general was a big inspiration for how autism is portrayed in the series. Booker has severe social issues, especially when in crowded areas, much like Ray Babbitt in the film. Also like Babbitt, Booker has a number of tendencies caused by his autism that cause others around him to believe he is strange, though in Booker's case he is aware of this and masks his behavior, something that states he doesn't enjoy doing in the books. Booker will also recoil and make sudden movements if people attempt to touch him when he is not aware, a trate that is also based on Babbitt. A meltdown which Booker has in the series was even directly modeled after Babbitt's meltdown in the film.
=== Traits and Appearance ===
James is described frequently throughout the series as being a man in his early 30s, abnormally tall and thin, and with sunken brown eyes which "are so dark that, if he were engulfed in shadow, they would disappear with the rest of his face". His skin is pale and his hair is dark, unkempt, and naturally spikes upward, with some going as far as to compare his appearance to that of a vampire. He is also stated to be in shape, but in a way that makes people who see his naked body uncomfortable, and he has no obvious signs of injury other than a large scar on his chest. The scar in question is related to his backstory as a former soldier, with him being shot in the chest and needing to be operated on, only for him to be dismissed from service when the following psych evaluation determined that he was on the spectrum and it would be detrimental to his mental health should he be allowed to continue in battle.
It was while in this unspecified war (likely the Gulf War given the year of the first book's publication) that Booker learned the names of multiple types of gun and how many bullets they can carry, training himself to be able to rapidly count the amount of bullets fired, his counting often accompanied by odd finger movements where he presses his middle and ring fingers against his thumb repeatedly and in succession. His fellow soldiers describe him as being quiet and thoughtful, almost always thinking, and having an abnormally good aim. He also quickly memorized where all of the body's arteries are and read up on and repeatedly practiced the best way to break and dislocate an opponent's bones. Despite this, Booker has claimed that he very rarely killed people during the war and was taught to only do so when he had run out of other options.
He also has a talent for pattern recognition, which allows him to accurately determine the order of events that a crime occured, and can notice very small details that other detectives do not. Part of this is due to his unique form of investigation, where he stays at a crime scene far longer than necessary, learning as much as he can about the area and invisioning every possible scenario of how the criminal could have committed the crime. In some cases, he will even roleplay as the culprit and pretend to act out the crime to see if there are flaws in his theories that he wouldn't notice otherwise. Occasionally, Booker will request others to pretend to be the victim of the crime and instruct them on how to act.
Even when not investigating a case, Booker will wander around an area and take in as much of the sights as he can find, which he then stores into his head for future reference, akin to a photographic memory. James is caught in one book training this talent, with him holding out a series of cards and then flipping them over to see if he can remember all of them. According to Booker, all of his skills and talents are trained, though his method in doing so for most remains a mystery. The many talents that Booker possesses have caused some both in and out of universe to think he is an autistic savant (someone with savant syndrome), but Booker insists that he is not, a fact that is backed up by his psychologist Jennifer Lee.
Booker's preferred method of stimming is described in his first novel, that being repeated hops from side to side, which he will do both when alone and when investigating in order to stimulate his mind. However, he will intentionally not do his hops when in front of others out of fear that it may put them off, choosing instead to rock front and back, tap his desk, or run his thumb across the side of stacked up papers. This provides James with less relief than his hopping, which is mildly upsetting for him.
Some traits of his autism sometimes hinder James in his cases. The major one being his anti-social tendencies, which cause him to not have many confidants that he can speak to and struggling to properly comfort witnesses and victims. He is also unable to tell when people are being sarcastic or using metaphors and has admitted that he will become face blind if people share too many facial features, such as him believing two separate people are the same person in one novel due to them both having brown hair, a heard, and square jaw. He is also easily overwhelmed by multiple sounds playing at the same time and flashing lights, often wearing earplugs in order to counter the former. Booker is shown to be fairly good at handling his emotions, to the point of coming off as aloof, but too much stress can cause him to have a meltdown. In one novel, the pressure of his current case causes him to have a particularly bad one where he smacks his own head and shatters his chair by tossing it into his wall.
== Supporting Cast ==
=== Dr. Jennifer Lee ===
Jennifer Lee is a psychologist specializing in autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, though she is trained in other forms of mental health treatment and diagnoses. Booker is a client of Lee's and often spoke to her before the first book. In the first book, Jennifer is Booker's client and companion, accompanying him as he solves the case. After the case, Jennifer becomes Booker's frequent confidant and will assist him in cases when requested, though she normally just helps Booker cope when he becomes overwhelmed. Because of this, Jennifer is best compared to Watson, both being medical professionals that accompany a detective on their cases.
She is stated to be a woman in her early 30s and of Aboriginal descent, with "a smile that doesn't reach her eyes" and a gap between her teeth that causes her to have a whistle on accident when speaking. She also has a lazy left eye that causes her to need glasses, becoming far sighted without them. This is used as a plot point a handful of times, such as in Blood in The Water when she comes face to face with the murderer but is unable to identify them due to them standing close to her when she didn't have her glasses on.
Her backstory is fleshed out in later books, where it's said her interest in psychology sparked when her mute younger brother, Donny, was found out to be on the spectrum. Lee claims that she did not know how to handle Donny's autism at the time and felt that if she had known the symptoms and traits of it at the time, she would have treated Donny much better. This motivated her to study psychology and become a psychologist, hoping to educate others and prevent the ignorance that she suffered from in her youth. Her childhood was also not a good one for some time, with her living with her biological father for seven years, whose temper traumatized Jennifer and gave her anxiety when people raise their voice. Her father eventually died of a heart attack and she moved in with her mother and step father, which she is ashamed to admit relieved her as a child.
=== Detective John Meyers ===
Booker's primary rival and the cop who he has the most interactions with, Meyers is known for his cocky and brash personality. Throughout the series, he often clashes with Booker and is chastised for his competativeness repeatedly, though he later becomes better friends with Booker after the events of For Great Justice. According to Meyers, he would frequently get into fights with the bullies of his high school and would join a police academy immediately after graduation. He has gotten into trouble with his superiors a number of times for the way he treats criminals, often getting into physical altercations with them, but Meyers has also shown that he has incredible deductive skills that Booker has complimented. According to Booker, Meyers is an above average detective, but one who needs to be wrangled in if he is to truly shine.
In For Great Justice, it's revealed Meyers is the child of a gang member named Duke Meyers, someone who he considered a bad man but a good father. Duke was one of the victims of the Justice Killer, Pierce Collins, who shot Duke to death as penance for his crimes. After Booker solves the Justice Killer case, Meyers softens up on him and begins spending time with him outside of a work environment, implying the two have become friends. However, Meyers continues to be more well known in the public eye than Booker, as Meyers is Booker's go-to when he needs someone to arrest a criminal, which gets Meyers most of the credit for the case.
Meyers' appearance is described rarely in the series, but what is known of him is that he has dirty blond hair and his face has only just started showing signs of aging, implying he may be middle aged. A recurring point in the series is the relationship between Meyers and Jennifer Lee, with Lee often making jokes at Meyers' expense and Meyers outwardly flirting with Lee. The two go on a date in The Saxton Institute and reveal that they are officially dating in For Great Justice.
=== Sophie Thompson ===
=== Agent Bill Parker ===
== Novels ==
=== Books ===
* The New Normal (1990): When one of her close friends is murdered in his home late at night, psychologist Jennifer Lee loses faith in the police due to their seeming refual to investigate the crime and is forced to turn to a private investigator. The investigator is one of her own clients, an autistic man named James Booker who, despite knowing it steps over the two's boundries, Jennifer has heard is one of the greatest PIs in all of Saxton City. Booker accepts the case and begins his investigation, which leads him to uncover a conspiracy decades in the making.
* Fun With Bombs (1991): A series of robberies and bombings have taken place all across Saxton City, with the thieves in question being regular citizens who have had bombs strapped to them and forced to commit the crimes. Booker is hired to investigate the crimes by the various citizens whose family members have been victims of the master thief who the press has dubbed the Saxton Bomber. However, Booker runs into trouble for investigating the crimes as the Bomber is considered a terrorist and thus falls under FBI jurisdiction. Booker must now attempt to unmask the Bomber while avoiding the FBI's watchful gaze, his only ally in their ranks being Agent Bill Parker, who believes Booker has what it takes to bring down the sadistic thief.
* Blood In The Water (1992): Booker is talked into attending a vacation cruise with Jennifer following the high-stakes events of Fun With Bombs, but even when attempting to take time off Booker's work follows him and a corpse is found in the ship's pool. Things become even more interesting when the ship captain reveals a majority of the people on the cruise are criminals attempting to flee their home countries, with Booker only having around two days before the cruise is finished and the killer has a chance to escape into international territory. To make matters worse, Booker's new knowledge of the cruise goers' motivations has painted a target on his back that they are all eager to hit.
* The Saxton Institute (1995): After a seeming psychotic break and Jennifer's recommendations, James is committed to the Saxton Institute of Mental Health. While there, Booker meets and befriends a number of mentally ill patients, but notices that others are behaving strangely even when taking their conditions into consideration. After being recommended a new type of med that Booker realizes is actually a powerful sedative in disguise, James begins to suspect that the head of the institute may be up to something that he is attempting to cover up by keeping the patients in a barely functioning state, which is seemingly confirmed when he learns that the former head of the institute has been missing for many years.
* The Centennial Conundrum (1997): Josh Saxton, the wealthy descendant of Saxton City's founder Arthur Saxton, discovers that his ancestor may have possibly had a priceless ruby on his person when he died and hopes to get his hands on it. The issue, however, is that Arthur Saxton had gone missing a century prior and is presumed to have been murdered. Because of this, Josh turns to Booker, the only man who he believes could solve a case this old. Unfortunately, word seems to have gotten out about Arthur's ruby, as Booker discovers that a local and fairly large gang is also attempting to find the body, resulting in a race between the gang and Booker as he attempts to solve the case before they can.
* For Great Justice (2001): A decade prior, the people of Saxton City were captivated by the case of the Justice Killer, Pierce Collins, who murdered a number of criminals and wrote the word "justice" above their corpses. A decade later, Collins seems to have resurfaced as a local mob boss is found dead in his home. Police are left stumped, however, as Collins seemingly died when he was shot to death in self-defense. The Saxton Police are ready to deem it a copycat, but Booker isn't so sure. Despite everyone believing he is reaching, Booker decides to investigate the case and figure out if it truly is a copycat or if the Justice Killer has somehow returned from the dead.
* The Gallows (2004): A prequel novel about James Booker's first big case. The novel follows Booker having been recently dismissed from the military and only having solved cheating spouse and theft cases thus far. However, when one of his clients is found dead, Booker begins a new investigation that leads him to the discovery that multiple murders have been committed over the past few months alone, that the police seem to be turning a blind eye to all of it, and that multiple respected establishments are somehow linked to it. And all of this is tied together by someone who is supposedly the man that is truly in charge of Saxton City. A man who is only identified by his people as "Hangman".
* The Lies of James Booker (2007): Booker is hired to investigate various strange and seemingly unrelated crimes by people who seem to have no motivation. The signs point to one conclusion: all of these people have been blackmailed to commit the crimes. Booker is proven right on his theory when he is visited by stockbroker Isaac L. Taylor, who confesses that he is the blackmailer before threatening to expose Booker's darkest secret, that being that, ever since the beginning, he has been operating with a fake licence. Taylor is not satisified with making James simply drop the case, however, and instead demands that Booker ruin his life by murdering the chief of police or Taylor will ruin it for him by exposing his secret.
* A Good Man On Trial (2012): A murder is committed late at night, the victim having been pushed off of a building in the city. It seems like an open and shut case when detective John Meyers confesses that he is the murderer, but James isn't so sure, as Meyers cannot provide a motivation for his crimes. Despite not having an alibi either and requesting Booker stay out of it, James decides to clear his friend's name and find the real killer and why Meyers has taken the blame for them. However, the courts are moving fast and Meyers' trial is expected to end by the end of the month, giving James a total of three weeks before Meyers is sentenced and put away forever.
* Compulsive (2015): Many of the cases recently have felt off to James, dating back to The Saxton Institute. The criminals involved were clearly not smart enough to have come up with the schemes by themselves, which Booker believes means that someone else has been supplying criminals with plans on how to concoct their crimes. Seemingly the mere act of investigating them having drawn their attention, Booker finds himself as the face of a battle between good and evil when he goes toe-to-toe with a serial killer, gang leader, and criminal mastermind named Scott Barlowe, a genius with obsessive compulsive disorder who feels a compulsion to commit murder and will become agitated if he does not.
=== Short Stories ===
* The Military Murders (1993): Set during his military services, the story tells the tale of James Booker's first investigation. Three soldiers are found shot to death on the battlefield, which is dismissed as being the result of enemies having found their hiding spot. However, when Booker sees a foreign news report of the battle and realizes that the soldiers were planning a withdrawl at the time of the deaths, James begins to suspect that someone at the base may have murdered his fellow soldiers.
* Meet The Slug (1993): Booker is hired to investigate the theft of an aristocrat's family jewels. Booker recognizes the way the crime was executed as the trademark style of Sid the Slug, a kleptomaniac and minor gang leader who Booker arrested some time ago. The Slug has recently been released from jail and is slimier than ever, but insists that he didn't steal the jewels. After Sid humiliates both Booker and his ally Jennifer, James decides to prove The Slug's guilt, even when evidence begins piling that he may not have committed the crime after all.
* Death Across 20 Miles (1994): Two people are shot within the span of a few days: a lawyer and a computer expert. The equipment to do so is found 20 miles away from both targets, suggesting an infamous hitman known across the world for his incredible aim and thrillseeker tendencies is now stationed in Saxton City and could possibly strike again. Booker must now identify who the hitman's next target is before he kills them and figure out who it is that hired him in the first place.
* Mr. Brian Lane (1994): After he is found barely functioning in the streets, a famous artist in Saxton City named Brian Lane hires Booker to help him retrieve a stolen painting that he made. The painting in question is one of a kind and Lane claims that his apprentice stole it to sell it at an auction. However, there is no evidence of the painting ever existing and, due to Lane's obvious signs of mental illness, he is expected to be committed. Sympathizing with the man due to Booker's own struggles, he takes the case and sets out to find the missing painting that may or may not even exist.
* A Smart Man (1994): James faces his most egocentric antagonist yet when John Willow, the self-proclaimed criminal mastermind, is hired to kill him. Willow is a man obsessed with his own intelligence who contrives bizarre schemes that seem to always end in his own favor, which Booker quickly learns after his first round with the supposed genius. James must now figure out a way to outsmart a man whose entire career and identity is built around the idea of outsmarting others.
* The Death of Rhonda Sykes (1995): The current District Attorney of Saxton City, a man named Brandon Owens, has gotten himself into a potential scandal right before election season. Owens reveals to James that, some time ago, he hired and slept with an escort named Rhonda Sykes, who became pregnant and is now mothering his illegitimate child. Owens also claims that Sykes wants to reveal the child to the public, which he views as blackmail and hires Booker to help him. Despite both thinking Owens is scum and finding the case boring, Booker agrees, only to stumble into a handful of surprises along the way.
* Detective Meyers (1996): Booker is shot in an alley while investigating a recent crime, with him being put into a medically induced coma until a doctor can be found to remove the sensitively placed bullet. However, while in the coma, James begins mumbling what seem to be clues to his attacker's identity, with his long time rival John Meyers being tasked to figure out who Booker's shooter was, what they did that James was investigating, and whether or not they plan to do it again.
* The Woman (1998): Ima Lincolns is a teacher at a local elementary school who graduated at the top of her class. She is also suspected to be the murderer of the school's principal, who was found dead in his apartment a few days prior. Lincolns is taken in for interrogations, with Booker being hired to be the interrogator as he is the only one believed to be smart enough to get a confession out of her. What follows is a game of cat and mouse where Booker attempts to corner Lincolns and Lincolns attempts to use her cunning and manipulation to get off scot free.
===Penelope Nightingale Crossover===
A crossover between the James Booker and Penelope Nightingale series of books was released on October 5, 2016, written conjointly by Adrian Ferdy and Naomi Puck, daughter of Nightingale's creator Richard Puck. Ferdy and Naomi met and befriended each other at the 2016 BookCon, with Naomi being the one to pitch the idea of a potential crossover between Ferdy's work and her father's. Richard had been going through health complications at the time and had been focused solely on his own novels, which meant Naomi would be the one to assist in writing the book.
The book itself focuses on a mysteries murder, the victim of which wrote James Booker's name before her death. This causes the police to believe Booker may be the culprit, though he insist that he is not and hopes to clear his name by solving the murder himself. His companion, Jennifer Lee, isn't certain that James will be able to solve this one with so many police watching him, so she hires Los Angeles based private investigator Penelope Nightingale to prove Booker's innocence. The novel follows the pair as they attempt to solve the mysterious murder, both quickly becoming competative towards each other in the process.
==Other Media==
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