The Book of Unforgivable Sins follows a resurrected immortal and a reluctant archaeologist who must recover a forbidden spell before a cult performs a ritual that could reshape the modern world. What inspired the Five Ancient Elements series and the mythology behind it?

The inspiration for the dangerous, thrill ride across the globe to cheat death and unravel arcane riddles came from where the inspiration for such things usually comes from: children’s literature.

A decade or so ago, I was working on a serialized novel for middle readers that would eventually appear in a national Celtic dance magazine. The novel, The Irish Witch’s Dress, required that I research Celtic mythology, and in the process, I came upon an apocryphal history of Ireland written centuries ago entitled Lebor Gabala Erenn, which translates roughly into The Book of Invasions. One particular myth grabbed my attention, and I wondered whether I might use it as the core of a Dan Brown-style global thriller for an adult readership. The idea seems to have been a good move, as The Book of Invasion, the first chapter in the Five Ancient Elements series, earned a Kirkus Review Starred Review and spawned two additional titles.

Ricky carries five thousand years of trauma and survival. How did you approach writing a character with that kind of history?

Awkwardly. In my first draft, Ricky was a very different character. In fact, she wasn’t even “Ricky.” She was “Ciara,” which my beta readers suggested would be mispronounced by virtually everyone. (The correct pronunciation is KEE-ruh.) And in my first draft, Ricky had it all together: attractive, physically appealing, no baggage. It bothered me until I figured out I’d given her character no room for growth or need to grow. The “new” Ricky was broken in a variety of ways, but events force her to step outside the perverse comfort of her misery to confront people, puzzles, and danger that have an equal capacity to heal or destroy her.

The book raises questions about immortality and moral responsibility. Why were those themes important to you?

I think it’s a fascinating question. If you could live forever, would this change you for better or worse? Immortality can be regarded as a placeholder for any sort of absolute (or near absolute) power. How would you change if you suddenly won $100 billion? Became the supreme ruler of a country? Possessed the nuclear codes and the world’s funkiest, most secure fallout shelter? Our political dialogues often focus on power dynamics and whether shifting it in one direction or the other would be more or less moral. I’m a bit of an idealist, and so I’ve always enjoyed the notion of a mostly moral David standing up to a Goliath whose morality has been eroded by power.

Are there other mythological traditions or historical periods you would like to explore in future books?

In addition to the Celts, the mythology of Ancient Egypt has fascinated me, which one can appreciate after reading The Book of Invasions and the others in the Five Ancient Elements series. The connection? In Lebor Gabala Erenn, a woman from the Middle East supposedly fled to an uninhabited island in the north, which led to the settling of Ireland. I wouldn’t mind writing more about Ancient Egypt. But history of all sorts draws me like a magnet.

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