I came to writing late. Not because the idea hadn’t been there — it had, most of my life — but because doing something about it always felt like a risk I wasn’t quite ready to take.

I spent years driving all over the UK for work, visiting most of its major cities, absorbing places and people without really knowing I was storing them up for later. Liverpool always stayed with me. There’s something about that city that’s unlike anywhere else in Britain — its history, its voice, the particular way its people carry themselves. When it came time to put a character somewhere, there was really only one choice.

Rafferty Cole started with a television programme that I had watched. I was immediately drawn to the character — honest, warm, no-nonsense, with dialogue that never wasted a word. The idea of creating someone with the same quality lodged in my head and wouldn’t leave. Rafferty is my answer to that.

Before committing my own name to a full novel, I spent time learning the publishing process the quiet way — writing five short children’s stories under a pen name, testing everything, making mistakes without an audience. No sales to speak of. But by the end of it I thought: right, enough of that. At my age, what have I really got to lose?

The Rafferty Cole series is the result. Three books, all set in Liverpool, all live on Amazon. A retired detective who doesn’t quite know how to stop working, in a city that never runs out of things to uncover.

My wife reads everything first and tells me exactly what she thinks. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I’m not chasing fame or fortune with any of this. I just want to make something worth reading — and, if I’m honest, to prove to myself that I can.

Chris Beard