Meet DCI Tom Douglas

People ask me all the time the Tom Douglas of my imagination - who he is, and what he looks like, what motivates him. This picture is the perfect example of who my Tom has always been. (For information, this is NOT a real person - the image was created based on my description of how he looks to me, with a few reference images.)

Tom is the quintessential "White Hat" hero, a man with a moral compass so strong he’s been known to let a killer go if justice demanded it more than the law did. He relies heavily on his "famous gut" and intuitive hunches, which often irritates his more rule-bound superiors.

While he is compassionate and deeply empathetic, he can be "gruff and direct" or display a fierce temper when his team or his family is threatened. To decompress, he is a passionate cook, famous for his Indian feasts and a childhood ritual of eating fish and chips while watching sci-fi. Despite his wealth (inherited), he remains grounded, viewing his millions as a burden that never quite compensates for the loss of his brother.

He is a "whistler" and he loves high-end kitchen gadgets. He enjoys spending a quiet evening with a good bottle of Scotch or wine and an eclectic playlist that ranges from AC/DC (inspired by memories of his brother Jack) to Natalie Merchant when he's feeling more melancholic.