Customer Reviews

April Fool

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

While desperately searching for something to read in the laundry room bookcase, I happened upon this book. What a score! I have seldom laughed out loud while reading a murder mystery but I did with this book. Filled with great characters, one I would swear was patterned after myself, hilarious courtroom scenes AND an engrossing murder mystery to boot. This is the literary equivalent of a Marx Bothers movie. All the plot threads are handled well and none are given short shrift at the expense of another. "Zany" without trying too hard. Pick it up and read it.

if you like the law and a mystery this is the book for you. Deverell breaks down the stuffiness of the law courts with an interesting and amusing look at the characters, judges, felons etc. Great read.

April Fool marks the return of one of Deverell's most beloved characters; Arthur Beauchamp, a Denny Crane-esque legal legend now retired to a hobby farm on one of British Columbia's Gulf Islands. Beauchamp's quiet life is upturned when his environmental activist wife decides to protest logging by living in a tree, at the same time as a roguish ex-client is accused of a heinous rape and murder.

The heroically fallible Beauchamp is forced onto an entertaining rollercoaster combining courtroom thriller with mystery whodunit. For readers, Deverell's unique writing style - melding quirky characters, witty dialogue, contemporary themes, and literary touches into a richly authentic Canadian setting, makes the ride all the more worthwhile. Recommended.

Great follow up book to Trial of Passion. Arthur Beauchamp is again a great pleasure. Another excellent read from Deverell.