CHINA -- Fans of Gerry Boyle's Jack McMorrow mystery series have a new reason to salivate.

There's a new kid in town.

Meet 22-year-old Brandon Blake. He has very little in common with Boyle, and even less in common with McMorrow, a hero who has been around for eight novels and is, to date, Boyle's trademark character.

"I don't know anyone who has gone through his experiences," Boyle said of his new protagonist. "I think the only thing we have in common is that he likes boats."

Blake is the star of "Port City Shake Down," a new novel that officially comes out today and is the beginning of a new series by acclaimed mystery author Boyle. The China resident is Colby Magazine's editor and a former Morning Sentinel staff writer.

After penning McMorrow adventures since 1993, Boyle was looking for a change of pace when he wrote "Port City Shake Down." Unlike the first-person McMorrow novels, "Port City Shake Down" is written in the third person. The new series also centers around a rookie hero who is very different than McMorrow, a journalist hailing from the same profession, stomping grounds and age demographic as creator Boyle.

Blake was raised by an alcoholic grandmother after his mother was presumed dead at sea. The epitome of self-reliance, Blake has few relationships and even fewer plans of leaning on anyone. He enrolls in law-enforcement classes at a community college and finds himself in less-than-good graces with sociopath Joel Fuller. Along with the help of a new writer friend, Blake discovers not everything is at it seems -- nor is his tragic past really at rest.

It's a different journey than anything McMorrow has done, and Boyle says he's still getting a feel for how Blake will weather the storms coming his way.

"Jack is a journalist. I knew everything about his job," Boyle said. "I know how he works and how he'd apply his trade. (With Blake), I have to watch him carefully to see what he's going to do next."

Contemplating how a young man with Blake's background would think, act and speak required new kinds of research for Boyle, which included bouncing lines off his 18-, 23-, and 25-year-old children to see if Blake was a believable young adult.

Of course, Blake isn't a typical 22-year-old, either.

"He's kind of an unusual fellow just because of the way he's been brought up," Boyle said. "He's both hardened by his experience and at the same time has this sort of naive belief in right and wrong. He really likes rules. He likes structure because he never had any. He pretty much raised himself."

Crafting Blake was fun, but it was a challenge, Boyle said.

"I think the most difficult thing was getting to know him well enough to be inside his head," he said. "As a character, he's kind of guarded, and I think he was guarded even from me. He doesn't naturally volunteer things, so I had to find ways to describe and make real his personality."

"Port City Shake Down" is just the beginning of Blake's toils. Research for the second book in the series has begun.

As for Blake's literary predecessor, McMorrow?

The future looks promising for him also. He'll be back in "Damaged Goods," which is scheduled to hit stands in February.

For details, go to Boyle's Web site, www.gerryboyle.com. "Port City Shake Down" is published by Down East Books.

Sada Reed -- 621-5732

sreed@centralmaine.com