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Fergus McCurdy

Fergus was born at Stornoway, in the Western Isles, in 1887. His father was head physician at the islands’ only rudimentary hospital, and his mother was one of the town’s two general practitioners. He was the older twin of Freya by about half an hour. Fergus, unlike Freya, hated growing up in the Western Isles. He tried, but unlike his sister, failed to learn Gaelic, and was treated as an incomer and outsider. That said, the peace and tranquillity of the islands left its mark on him, providing a regular negative comparator to Govan and Glasgow. The family moved to Glasgow in 1898, buying a sprawling house in the suburb of Bearsden. His father, Dr. Francis, took up the post of Professor of Forensic Medicine at the university, which made him de facto responsible for many of the post-mortems carried out in the city. Dr. Grace took up a post at Glasgow Royal Infirmary as an orthopaedic surgeon, a role she would later return to as a consultant. Fergus went to Glasgow Academy on the grounds that it was his father’s old school, although he was brought up as a Roman Catholic. (Frances had adopted Catholicism on marrying Grace.] Fergus followed his father (and mother) to Glasgow University to study medicine, but left after two years, being unable to cope with practical matters such as dissections. He was enrolled in Glasgow School of Art and studied drawing extensively. Although he could have pursued a career in art (e.g. as a teacher, or in a commercial setting as a visualiser), he chose to join the police, a decision he couldn’t later explain. He took the decision after returning from a period of study with Gustav Klimt in Vienna. Freya’s view was that, during his time in Vienna, he’d realised his limitations as an artist but, instead of embracing them, he’d run away from them.

He joined as a constable in 1910 (while still nominally at Glasgow School of Art) being quickly promoted, as officers left to go to war,  to Sergeant and then Inspector. He worked on murders and other serious crimes until he joined up in 1916. He was commissioned in the Argyll and Southerland Highlanders, and was subsequently wounded. After recovery, he was moved to the Intelligence Corps, but had a range of mental health problems. Eventually, fearing (correctly) that he was in a self-destructive phase, his father managed to have him invalided out and restored to his old job, this time stationed in Govan. By the start of Book 1, Fergus had been in Govan for almost exactly 1 year, and, in his own eyes, fully operational for little more than a month. The explosion at Copeland Road, which takes place early in the book, is his first “proper” case since returning to work. Verity only finds this out some considerable time later. He continues to ensure flashbacks, nightmares and periods of crippling survivor’s guilt.

Fergus was, surprisingly for his role, gentle, affable and concerned for his fellow man and woman. He lacked the physical and mental toughness required for day to day policing, and wis grateful both to be now a senior officer and assigned to the Criminal Investigation Department. Fergus had a strong sense of fairness, and became extremely vexed at the routine petty corruption he saw among officers at all levels. He was not well-liked by other officers across the city, partly stemming from an incident when he personally ordered the release of a suspect he felt had been “fitted up” by other officers, leading one of them to be suspended. Freya recognised Fergus as inherently lonely and sad, although Fergus himself did not see this in himself. His sister was also his best friend, and did much to help him both practically and with his mental health. She was, however, remorseless in her teasing of him.