William Deverell

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I'll See You in My Dreams

The most gripping and explosive murder case in the career of Vancouver's great barrister Arthur Beauchamp has sent echoes resounding across five decades. The story begins in 1962 when Arthur is 25, just as he's about to abandon law for academia, having decided he can't bear to defend any more thieves and thugs. But he is suddenly handed his first murder case, the legal-aid defence of Gabriel Swift, a bright young, politically active aboriginal accused of killing Professor dermot Mulligan, world-renowned scholar and author, and former principal of a Native residential school.

Arthur cannot resist the challenge of taking on such a high-profile case, even though he risks losing Gabriel to the hangman, even though Dr. Mulligan had been Arthur’s mentor in classical studies. He is shocked to learn that Gabriel Swift, himself an embittered product of the residential school system, had also been mentored by Dr. Mulligan, informally but intensively. The eminent scholar had taken this fiercely intelligent young rebel under his wing, opening up to him a wealth of literature and ideas.

Gabriel and Arthur seem opposites in almost every conceivable way; one radicalized, the other conservative, one Native, the other the very definition of a WASP. Nevertheless Arthur finds himself drawn to his difficult client, to his intelligence and passion, as the two debate philosophy and history, guilt and innocence. Arthur becomes increasingly convinced that the police evidence is not only flimsy, but suspiciously convenient in a system – and a society – with entrenched racist assumptions. But as the case progresses, Arthur also develops an uncomfortable sense that Gabriel is not telling him the whole truth. Meanwhile he is up against the most famous – and notoriously wily – lawyer of the day, and a clever but biased judge. The trial becomes a fierce life-and-death challenge for a lawyer still green around the edges

Flash forward to 2011, as Arthur remains plagued by the trial, haunted by suspicions that serious issues and answers remain unresolved. He is finally forced to emerge from retirement on Garibaldi Island, don his robes, and try to complete what he began. Meanwhile, he is forced to swallow embarrassing tales about his life and career in a tell-all biography while chaos reigns on his bucolic island, with local ne'er-do-wells constantly finding awkward ways to complicate his life. Arthur’s peace is at particular risk because his first wife, the bewitching Annabelle, has reentered his life and seems bent on wreaking havoc with it - and with his marriage to Green Party leader Margaret Blake, a relationship Arthur sees as increasingly wobbly.

Written with William Deverell's trademark wit and wisdom, I'll See You in My Dreams takes the reader on a thrilling ride through a touch-and-go murder trial that floods light into some of the darker corners of Canada’s history. The inimitable Arthur Beauchamp must pass through some murky and long-repressed personal territory along the way, but the journey ultimately offers some hope for the peace of redemption.

@ William Deverell.com

Winner of the Dashiell Hammett Award for Literary Excellence in North American Crime Writing

The latest from William Deverell

I'll See You in My Dreams