Detective novel fans are being given the chance to meet a new Cumbrian crime fighter, but only if he gets enough votes.

Ex-cop Owen Irvine features a new series by Maryport author JJ Salkeld, A Natural Detective.

The first ebook in the series, An Invasive Species, is ready for release and has been selected for Amazon's Kindle Scout scheme.

Readers have until November 8 to nominate the book for publication under the scheme.

Fans can get a taste of the story by reading the first few pages and nominate it online.

If the ebook is released through the scheme, readers who nominated it will receive a free copy.

As well as featuring new character Owen, An Invasive Species catches up with popular characters like Andy Hall and Jane Francis, who feature in earlier JJ Salkeld books.

Further books in the series will see Owen and another new character, rural police officer Kathy Stone, take over.

The author, real name Richard Simpson, lives in Maryport and has so far published nine ebooks in his Lakeland Murders series and four in the Border City Blues series.

He has also published an anthology of that series and a short story.

Owen is a move away from Richard's earlier characters.

He said: "I wanted someone a bit more rounded - he has another life outside policing/detection - and I wanted to give him this major flaw, a tendency to over-reaction and violence, that makes him a bad copper but an effective detective.

"I wanted someone who's really rooted in the area - because readers really seem to respond to the fact that the books are so much about the county."

To get a taste of the new novel and nominate it for publication, visit kindlescout.amazon.com