I'll See You in My Dreams

Starred review from July 25, 2011
Deverell's excellent fifth novel featuring lawyer Arthur Beauchamp (after 2009's Snow Job) finds him retired on Garibaldi Island near Vancouverâand still haunted by his first murder trial. In 1962, he defended Gabriel Swift, a Cheakamus native charged with killing Dermot Mulligan, who ironically was Beauchamp's mentor and classics tutor at university. Excerpts from A Thirst for Justice, a biography of Beauchamp by one Wentworth Chance, counterpoint the vivid picture of the disastrous trial, in which the naïve young Beauchamp had to contend with corrupt policemen, a skilled special prosecutor, and a problematic defendant. Fifty years later, the same case may provide the capstone to his long career. Deverell touches on the evils of the Native residential school system as this literate mystery builds to a surprising solution. Readers will hope they haven't seen the last of the endearingly complex, fallible, and fascinating Beauchamp.