Make Note of James M. Jackson

Greetings, Noters!

Long time, no see! Well, I suppose you have been seeing me around various corners of the internet, but it’s been a while since I’ve had a Make Note Of piece to share with you. Between Substack, Facebook, Youtube, Instagram, and who else knows what, it’s tricky keeping all of my spaces in order. But I’m happy to be back with you!

It’s been a whirlwind in my bookish world, and I couldn’t be more grateful for all of you who’ve joined me along the way. Fatal Sign-Off, the third Book Blogger Mystery, officially launched on August 26, and celebrating Winnie Lark’s latest case with readers has been such a joy. Seeing your excitement, messages, and reviews reminds me why I love writing these stories in the first place. If you haven’t picked up your copy yet, you can grab it here: Amazon | Universal Book Link.

At the same time, J.C. Kenney and I welcomed back A Bookish Moment for a brand-new season. Kicking things off with cozy conversations and plenty of bookish fun has me energized for the many wonderful guests and stories we’ll be sharing with you in the months ahead.

With all that excitement, I’m thrilled to turn the spotlight toward today’s guest. Without further ado…

A Bit About the Author: James M. Jackson writes justice-driven thrillers with “brains and bite,” including the award-winning Seamus McCree series. His new series launches with Niki Undercover starring Ashley Prescott, an undercover federal agent fighting domestic terrorism. A life member of Sisters in Crime and past president of its Guppy Chapter, Jackson calls home the deep woods of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Find news, extras, book details, upcoming events, and more at https://jamesmjackson.com.

James, welcome back to Noteworthy to celebrate the debut of a brand-new series! Niki Undercover opens with an explosive premise: two years undercover and a ticking clock. How did you come up with this high-intensity setup?

Thriller readers enjoy stories that start in the middle of the action. Experts often suggest writers imagine the worst thing that can happen to a character. For an undercover agent, the only thing worse than having their cover blown, and then losing their job because the destroyed cover is their fault, is to be killed because their cover is blown. If the lead dies on page one, I’m stuck with a paranormal novel or one in which readers know the ending and continue to read the story to find out why that ending occurred. Not my kind of story.

Ha! Your character dying on page one would certainly be a bit tricky to navigate. Ashley Prescott is caught between two dangerous worlds: the extremist militia and her own agency. What drew you to creating a character in such a precarious position?

Characters (and real people) gain strength through adversity. I don’t believe the bromide that “what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger,” but I do think that without adversity, we can’t learn how strong we are or can be.

Ashley was a young girl when the 9-11 terrorist attacks struck. In that moment, she knew she wanted to help protect the United States from those who want to destroy it. She joined the FBI and gravitated to anti-terrorism, which introduced her to extremists. But that’s just her job.

One theme in my novels revolves around fighting the abuse of power, in whatever form that abuse takes. Male-dominated organizations, with their old-boy networks and often rule-bound, rigid ways, squash those who challenge that power. While the FBI is changing, no woman has been the FBI director, Deputy Director (DD), or Associate Deputy Director (ADD). One woman was temporarily an acting associate deputy director. The highest position a woman has had is as an Executive Assistant Director (EAD). Much of the Bureau remains chauvinist. I wanted to know how someone like Niki would deal with that power structure, so I added that stress.

That’s such an interesting and relevant perspective to explore. Ashley’s story moves between Minnesota and D.C., giving a sense of both rural and political danger. Why did you choose these particular settings?

If you plan to topple the federal government, D.C. is the place to be. But Ashley is a Midwestern gal. Although she must live in the metro D.C. area, she’s more drawn to nature than city pleasures. To create additional conflict and tension between Ashley’s work and family, I added distance. I have some familiarity with the Minneapolis-St. Paul area and chose it to locate her family.

Ashley’s alias, Niki Foster, is more than a cover; it’s an entire life she’s been living. How did you approach the challenge of writing a character balancing two identities?

Before creating Niki, I read several autobiographies of successful undercover agents. One common point they made was, you have to live the life. Doing that over a long time eventually causes the undercover role to bleed into their “real” life. I wanted a few traits that belonged to Ashley or Niki, but not both. Those could signify her mental and physical change from one to the other. Because Niki has worked undercover for years, the bleeding between her two personas has started. As the series develops, that issue becomes a more serious problem for her.

What qualities do you think make Ashley stand out among other thriller heroines?

Ashley is a paradox you rarely see in thrillers: a world-class undercover operator who’s a novice when thrust into corporate power—and she doesn’t flinch from that mismatch. Instead of the usual “flawless at everything” or “coming-of-age” stories, she is mature in her chosen career but has visible educational and emotional gaps in the corporate domain that can expose and embarrass her. Her moral compass won’t let her walk away from failure, so readers experience her growth under fire as she repurposes field skills (reading people, patterning, decisive action, and out-of-the-box thinking) to survive a new jungle. The engine isn’t invincibility; it’s conscience-driven competence meeting steep learning—and winning anyway.

The book deals with extremism, betrayal, and the idea of a “system turning against you.” What inspired you to tackle these themes?

I grew up in the 1960s and watched citizens denied voting rights because of the color of their skin, redlining to create all-white neighborhoods, using police and the national guard to squash peaceful protests. I worked one summer with migrant workers who lived in unsanitary conditions, were forced to buy supplies from company stores, and returned south with no more money than they started with. And I went to public school, where girls’ sports were limited, having nothing to do with their athletic talents.

Those experiences gave me a heightened sense of how those in power (political, economic, physical) abuse their positions to enrich themselves. That’s betrayal, and when done by government or corporate structures, that is the “system turning against you.”

One reaction to asymmetrical power is the growth of militias. I first dealt with extremism in Cabin Fever (Seamus McCree #3), a novel in which Ashley appears. By the time I started drafting Niki Undercover in 2019, the National Security Agency had labeled domestic terrorism a greater threat than external terrorism—and since that was Niki’s strong suit, I kept that focus.

On a personal level, Ashley feels that betrayal from her father, who she believes treated her mother badly. She also feels it within the FBI, where it’s nearly impossible to buck the system. (And to them, that includes all women.)

The themes you explore feel so very timely. Niki Undercover is billed as the start of a new series. Without giving away spoilers, what can readers expect from Ashley’s future adventures?

I called the series “Niki Undercover Thrillers,” so one thing we can be confident of is that Ashley continues to operate undercover. In Niki Unleashed (Niki Undercover Thriller #2), the focus moves from militias to ecoterrorism. With a November 11, 2025, release date, it’s available for preorder on Amazon.

I’m glad to know we have more to learn about Ashley. Did any part of the research surprise you or change how you shaped the plot?

A scene in early drafts of Niki Undercover had Niki ditching an FBI agent tailing her by entering a St. Paul, Minnesota Walmart and convincing an employee that the agent was her ex, on whom she had a restraining order. He’d just gotten out of prison, and she spotted him in the store. If he saw her, he’d follow her and, once he got her alone, he’d beat her up for ratting him out. The employee leads her out a back door to the loading dock. From there, Niki makes a quick disguise change in a nearby restaurant and disappears on a city bus. A nice set of scenes that showed Niki’s skill at detecting and ditching tails.

Except when I returned to the manuscript after a two-year hiatus, I discovered that Walmart had been torn down, the restaurant had failed during Covid, and the bus line had a new route. I might have chosen to find somewhere else in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area to set the scene. Instead, I pulled those scenes and created new ones with greater stakes that allowed Niki to use those same skills.

Oh wow! That is a big change, but you definitely adapted to the curveballs writing life often throws our way!

A huge thank you to James for taking the time to chat and share such thoughtful insights into his writing and characters. If you’re eager for more, be sure to check out his brand-new Niki Undercover Thrillers, starting with Niki Undercover, and don’t forget his long-running Seamus McCree series, which continues to delight mystery and thriller fans alike. Both series promise plenty of twists, turns, and heart—perfect additions to your TBR pile!

Niki Undercover

James M. Jackson

Two years undercover. One phone call. Zero margin for error.

FBI Agent Ashley Prescott has spent two years undercover as Niki Foster, earning the trust of Patriots for Freedom—an extremist militia. As the Bureau’s only window into the group—and their Chinese linguist and arms go-between—she’s the only one who can stop an imminent weapons sale and their plot to tear America apart with targeted assassinations.

Then her estranged billionaire father vanishes after leaking classified intel—details that threaten to expose her and could only have come from inside the FBI.

HQ plans to shut down her op, claiming she blew her cover. Ashley knows what that means: the Bureau will nab a few small fry and proclaim victory, while the militia leaders disappear, the arms shipment remains a threat, and the traitor wrecks other lives.

Racing between Minnesota to track down her father and D.C. to maintain her cover, she has ten days to stop the plot and expose the FBI leaker. With ex-SEALs closing in and her own agency against her, going rogue is her only shot at saving the country—and her own survival.

When the system turns against you, justice becomes a one-woman war.

NIKI UNDERCOVER launches an explosive new thriller series for fans of Isabella Maldonado and Karin Slaughter.