I’ve had The Unforgiven Dead by Fulton Ross on my TBR for some time and am desperate to get to it. However, having heard such brilliant things about it and with today being The Unforgiven Dead publication day, I simply had to invite Fulton onto Linda’s Book Bag to tell me all about it.

Let’s find out more:

Staying in with Fulton Ross

Welcome to Linda’s Book Bag Fulton. Thank you for agreeing to stay in with me.

 Hi Linda, thanks for having me along!

You are most welcome. Tell me, which of your books have you brought along to share this evening and why have you chosen it?

I’ve brought along my debut novel, The Unforgiven Dead, which is published by Inkshares today! It is also one of five novels shortlisted for the Bloody Scotland Debut Prize, which I’m immensely proud about.

I imagine you are! Happy publication day Fulton and very well done on the nomination. So, tell me a bit about The Unforgiven Dead and how it came into being?

Thanks, Linda. The book came about through a collision of my love for Tartan Noir with the Highland folktales of my childhood. It’s set in the Scottish west highlands, and follows constable Angus ‘Dubh’ MacNeil, ‘dubh’ being Gaelic for black and pronounced ‘do’.

I’m glad you explained that! What’s Angus like?

As his name suggests, Angus is a fairly tortured character who harbours a painful secret. He is a taibhsear, which is Gaelic for someone who has the second sight. But rather than a gift, this is a curse he’s had to bear since childhood when he ‘saw’ his mother’s brutal murder but was unable to prevent it. Subsequent murders followed as he grew older, all of which he tried, but ultimately failed, to stop happening. Eventually, it all became too much, and when we first meet Angus he is self-medicating with anti-psychotic drugs in order to stifle his gift.

But the drugs don’t work, to coin a phrase and there’s been another murder. The victim is the daughter of an American billionaire who owns the fictional Kilcreggan estate and has caused controversy with his plan to reintroduce wolves. The murder itself echoes a pagan threefold death ritual. The victim is also discovered holding a corp-creadha—which is Gaelic for clay corpse. Essentially it’s a Highland voodoo doll. 

Wow. That all sounds fantastic. I really MUST read The Unforgiven Dead as soon as I can. Tell me more.

That’s the set-up, but what makes the book a little different from other crime novels is that we essentially have two investigations progressing at the same time—the rational police investigation led by the Major Investigation Team, and a supernatural investigation, led by Angus’s friend and mentor Dr Gillesbuig MacMurdo, known to us as Gills. And as these two investigations play off one another, the reader should be asking is the killer a who or a what. Angus himself is torn by this question, but ultimately he must embrace his dubious gift or watch more murders unfold. 

The Unforgiven Dead sounds very dramatic Fulton.

Just saying all this, I’m suddenly aware the book sounds a bit bleak, what with the tortured protagonist and ritualistic murders! But there’s also plenty of dry Scottish humour in there to add some light to the darkness.   

That’s good to hear. So, can you explain a bit about the title of the novel?

Certainly! The first thing to say is that it’s nothing to do with zombies! The Unforgiven Dead is actually a malevolent fairy host that appears in various Highland folktales. They’re known as the Sluagh in Gaelic, which translates into English as The Unforgiven Dead. Although described as fairies—Tinkerbell they aint! They are birdlike in appearance, often compared to a flock of starlings, but have leathery wings and wide gaping mouths. They appear around twilight, always from the west, and scour the skies searching for souls to steal. Usually, they target folk on their deathbeds or women in the throes of giving birth, although they’re not adverse to ‘lifting’ the odd child. Up until fairly recently there was a custom in the Outer Hebrides and Highlands of closing west facing windows and doors when someone was on their deathbed to prevent the Sluagh snatching the invalid’s soul. 

Crikey! It sounds as if considerable research has gone into the book? 

Absolutely, and so much of that research is merely background that informed the book rather than information that went into it. I studied Scottish history and Scottish literature at university, so they research side of things is something I love. That said, you have to be careful not to fall down too many rabbit holes! 

I bet you do. Many authors tell me that the majority of their research never finds its way into their books. But The Unforgiven Dead is your debut.  Tell me about your journey to publication.

It’s been a long and at times painful one! I started writing The Unforgiven Dead seven years ago, but my break came in 2018 when it was chosen by Inkshares as a winner of its crime and mystery contest. Inkshares in a Californian publisher, but they are launching a UK imprint this year which is being spearhead by two novels – mine and Unnatural Ends by a fantastic writer called Christopher Huang. I’m pretty thrilled that Inkshares is putting so much faith in me! I’ve been working with a great editor there since 2018, and my aim across the many, many drafts of The Unforgiven Dead was to leveraged the brooding Highland landscape as the backdrop for a grounded supernatural thriller that pushed the boundaries of the genre. 

I think The Unforgiven Dead sounds amazing. Given what you’ve told me about it I’m slightly nervous to ask this but what else have you brought along and why have you brought it?

 

I’ve brought along a bottle of Talisker whisky. Angus, and my favourite character in the novel, Gills, are often sitting around discussing the case while having a wee dram of Talisker.

We’ll pour some in a minute Fulton!

The other item I’ve brought is this book – The Gaelic Otherworld, by John Gregorson Campbell.

This collection of folktales and customs was hugely important when writing The Unforgiven Dead. Campbell was a minister on the island of Tiree, and also a renowned folklorists. During the 1850s he travelled around the Western Islands and Highlands collecting these tales and customs, which until then would never have been recorded as they were essential passed down orally from generation to generation. One of the themes of my book is how centuries of government attempts to tame the ‘wild Highlands’ has decimated Gaelic language and culture. Without the likes of Campbell many of these tales and customs would have been lost forever. 

It sounds to me Fulton, that you are about to establish yourself very firmly into a new tradition of such writing. Thank you so much for staying in with me to chat all about The Unforgiven Dead. I think I’m going to love it. Now, you pour a couple of whiskies and I’ll give readers a few more details about this fabulous sounding debut:

 The Unforgiven Dead

You could have saved her. 

Sure as the tide against his Highland shores, the refrain beats into Constable Angus ‘Dubh’ MacNeil’s mind. For years it has haunted him, accompanied by the faces of those he could not save—the Burned Man, the Strangled Woman, the Drowned Boy. All witnesses to a secret he cannot share and a gift he now refuses to embrace.

You could have saved her. The refrain drives Angus to the seashore at dawn, where a girl lies on the unblemished sand. She wears a green cloak and cradles a corps creadha, a Highland voodoo doll. She has suffered a ritualistic, three-fold death—her head bludgeoned, her throat cut, and symbolically drowned.

It is Faye Chichester, daughter of an American billionaire whose mission to reintroduce wolves to the Highlands has embroiled the village of Glenruig. But even as media and police swarm the area, that refrain—you could have saved her—echoes in all Angus’s thoughts. For he carries a burden, a blessing, a curse, a secret—dà-shealladh, the second sight of Gaelic lore.

Gills MacMurdo, noted folklorist, academic, and Angus’s oldest friend, confirms what the dà-shealladh is warning. Just as Faye’s death was three-fold, so must the murder victims fulfil the ancient pattern. More will die, unless Angus does what he must—close his eyes and see.

Published today,  27th July 2023, The Unforgiven Dead is available for purchase via your local bookshop, on Amazon and directly from the publisher here.

 About Fulton Ross

Fulton Ross is an author, journalist, and former shinty player originally from Fort William in the Scottish Highlands.

Having worked as a sub-editor, reporter, and occasional columnist for regional and national newspapers, he now splits his time between writing and acting as an unpaid chauffeur for his three children.  

A graduate in Scottish history and literature from Glasgow University, his writing reflects this interest in folklore, mythology, history, and Gaelic culture.

The Unforgiven Dead is his debut novel.

Fulton now lives in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, with his family and two annoying cats named May and June.  

For further information, follow Fulton on  Twitter: @FultonLRoss.