I'll See You In My Dreams

I’ll See You in My Dreams is the fifth of six books in the Arthur Beauchamps series, the sixth book that I’ve read by this author, and if you’ve been following my posts, you know I’ve become a devotee of William Deverell. This one is a remarkably clever crime novel. Through the first four books, Deverell sometimes refers back to Beauchamps earlier dysfunctional days of alcoholism and a failed marriage, all happening while he built a reputation as one of Canada’s most able criminal defense attorneys. But, the backstory was never filled in, until now. In this novel, the author jumps back and forth between 1962 and the present. In 1962, Beauchamps was just 25 years old, fresh out of law school, struggling to decide if he really wanted to be a lawyer, and his firm threw a murder case his way as a means of keeping this talented man in their firm. That first murder trial did not work out so well for Beauchamps and haunted him for the next 50 years.

While this novel could be a stand-alone book, it’s my advice to start at the beginning (Trial of Passion) and work your way forward. The gradual character development of Beauchamps and his cast of characters is too good to miss. This novel involves Arthur trying to correct the bad outcome of a 50-year-old case. Although his client, Gabriel Swift, was convicted of the murder of Professor Dermot Mulligan, the body was never found and Swift escaped to South America. In the course of the book, Deverell not only fleshed out Arthur’s troubled past and recovery from the depth of substance abuse, but he also delved into the Canadian government’s long history of mistreatment of its indigenous peoples. The author continues to poke fun at the legal system and the human failings of its most prominent jurists. I’ve gotten pretty good at predicting story lines and anticipating where an author is headed, but I have to say that the resolution of this story is one that I did not see coming until the author presented it in the last few pages. My advice – read William Deverell.