William Deverell

Globe and Mail Review:

This is the latest in the wonderful Arthur Beauchamp series and it’s superb. If, like me, you’ve wondered just how Beauchamp became a lawyer for the lost, Deverell fills in the backstory. The case, set in 1966, has a young and avid Beauchamp taking on a murder case. The accused young woman claims the dead man raped her and that’s why she shot him. Although he’s young and inexperienced, he knows that all he needs to do to win the case is sow some reasonable doubt.

We go forward to Beauchamp now in his eighties who is filled with the regrets. Regular readers know Beauchamp’s life has been one of wins and losses and Deverell plays on all those as he builds this story in the form of a memoir. Beautifully written and haunting, this is one of Deverell’s best.

New York Times Review:

Far be it from me to say whether William Deverell’s THE LONG-SHOT TRIAL (ECW Press, 250 pp., paperback, $21.95), the ninth novel to star the quick-witted defense lawyer Arthur Beauchamp, will be his last; that said, Deverell is 87, and the book is shot through with lament and mourning.

Beauchamp, about the same age as the author, has been provoked into writing his memoirs, concentrating specifically on a 1966 case in which a young woman alleged that her employer had raped her and then shot him dead.Beauchamp gets tasked with the case at the last minute, and he’s certain it’s not winnable. But all he needs is reasonable doubt to clear his client. As he reminisces, the present day occasionally intrudes — minor conflicts with his wife; interactions with his would-be literary agent. Deverell paces his story beautifully and weaves in some final surprises.