Caol author hopes that crime will pay
The West Highlands is well established on the tourist map, but now a Fort William born author is hoping to put the area on the literary map as well, writes Mark Entwistle.
Journalist Fulton Ross has chosen Lochaber as the setting for a new series of crime novels that he hopes will strike a chord with book lovers both at home and abroad.
The first in the series, entitled The Unforgiven Dead, follows the attempts of a Highland police officer to catch a killer whose crimes echo macabre folk tales.
‘My main character, Angus ‘Dubh’ McNeil, lives in Glenuig,’ said the 39-year-old. ‘He has inherited the dubious gift of second-sight and is pulled into a murder inquiry when the daughter of the new laird – a wealthy American with more than a passing resemblance to Donald Trump – is murdered in apparently impossible circumstances.’ Inspiration for the book struck unexpectedly one night.
‘I was footering about online and stumbled upon a digitised book of Highland folk tales,’ explains the former Lochaber High School pupil. ‘One of the tales concerned a fairy host known as the Sluagh in Gaelic, the Unforgiven Dead in English, hence the title.’
Fulton, who grew up in Caol, studied at Glasgow University, before becoming a sub editor with local newspapers and then The Herald. As well as The Unforgiven Dead, he has written two other crime novels, both set in Glasgow.
‘I wasn’t a big reader as a child, which is perhaps unusual for an author, although I grew up surrounded by books,’ says Fulton.
Both Fulton’s parents were, and still are, avid readers. Now retired and living in Spean Bridge, his mother, Kathleen, taught French and German at Lochaber High School, while father, Walter, worked for Nevis Range.
Fulton was more interested in sport. Shinty was his real passion – he won caps for Scotland under-21 and then at senior level in 2001.
Although he did not put pen to paper until his late 20s, Fulton harboured ambitions of being a writer since about 17, when he discovered the work of the late Iain Banks.
‘I remember being blown away by The Crow Road,’ he says. ‘It was one of the first ‘adult’ books I read. Banks writes so well – apparently effortlessly – and his books are full of great characters, ideas and humour.’
Now living in rural Co Tyrone with his GP wife, Fulton divides his time between looking after his children – Finlay, nine, Hannah, seven, and Olly, five – working freelance as a sub-editor for the Belfast Telegraph and writing.
Fulton is currently looking for a publisher for The Unforgiven Dead and has taken the novel approach of launching a campaign on Inkshares.com, a US publisher. His campaign runs until February 2 and he is hoping Highland book lovers will back it by logging on to www.inkshares.com/books/the-unforgiven-dead