Leave Me By Dying: An Ellis Portal Mystery (Ellis Portal Mysteries) [Paperback]

Rosemary Aubert (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 12, 2004 | Series: Ellis Portal Mysteries

In this prequel to the earlier books in the series, Ellis Portal, the disgraced former judge turned sleuth, is taken back to his law school days.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This plodding prequel to Aubert's Arthur Ellis Award-winning series (Free Reign, etc.) takes Ellis Portal back to his youth when he studied law at the University of Toronto, years before an unexplained scandal destroyed his career on the bench. Asked to accompany friend and fellow student Gleason Adams on a midnight mission to the city morgue, Portal finds himself immersed in the abrupt disappearance of a female corpse midway through an autopsy. Portal drags his feet in helping Adams solve this inexplicable although not very compelling conundrum, because of his desire to further his own law career by interning for a respected jurist. Against an awkwardly applied backdrop of such '60s events as civil rights marches, the New York World's Fair and Beatles concerts, we follow Ellis on his half-hearted search for Adams's mysterious connection to the victim. After a gloomy opening scene and a long winter of investigation, the happily-ever-after ending somehow doesn't seem to fit the grim events and setting of this disappointing tale.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

The fourth Ellis Portal novel is perhaps the best yet. This time, in a prequel to the previous installments, Aubert focuses on a brief period during the former judge's University of Toronto law-school days. The year is 1965, and the 23-year-old Portal is hoping to be accepted into an accelerated law program. Portal falls in with fellow student Gleason Adams, a wealthy, world-weary character alternately infuriating and fascinating to the more driven Portal. When Adams drags Portal to the morgue to observe an autopsy on a murder victim, the body disappears, and no record of the crime can be found. As Adams tries to convince Portal to help him solve the mystery, Portal's brother, Michele, asks him to help a Native American friend avoid the American draft. Aubert skillfully interweaves hot topics of the day into the plot, including civil rights, the underground gay scene, Vietnam, and the Beatles. A must-read for both fans of the series and newcomers. Jenny McLarin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Bridgeworks (August 12, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1882593936
• ISBN-13: 978-1882593934
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,730,073 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A sinister web surrounds death and cover-up, November 15, 2003

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Leave Me By Dying: An Ellis Portal Mystery (Ellis Portal Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Born in Niagara Falls, New York, Rosemary Aubert now resides in Toronto, Canada. She has an easy familiarity with the criminal justice system after having spent many years working in that area. LEAVE ME BY DYING is a prequel to already published Ellis Portal novels. A series of movies may be in the works based on Auberts Ellis Portal series.

Ellis Portal is 23 years old, and the year is 1965. He is in Toronto and is attending Law School. His rich and handsome friend and fellow student Gleason Adams requests that Ellis accompany him to an autopsy, which will become part of a school project they need to work on. Once there, all is not routine. The body is that of a young woman, at first glance, with a bag over her head and a rope around her neck. The autopsy is interrupted, and the body disappears, but not before Gleason fingers a packet from the body which contains two unusual rings. In the meantime, Portal rushes to pull together another project which might gain entry for him as an intern to Magistrate Sheldrake Tuppin. Kavin, his professor, tries to give Portal a feeling for what the law is really like:

"'Magistrate Tuppin is of the 'Dirty Hands' school.' Kavin smiled, waiting for my inevitable comment. Everyone knew Tuppin to be an impeccable man-even, his enemies charged, a bit of a dandy.

'I can't imagine the magistrate having any part of his anatomy less than perfectly sanitary at any time, but I do take your meaning, sir,' I answered. 'If you want to impress Tuppin,' Kavin said, 'come down from your ivory tower, Portal.'"

Rosemary Aubert writes an excellent mystery that works on many levels: as a psychological puzzle; as a 'coming of age' tale for a somewhat stuffy law student who really hasn't had much experience; as an analysis of what havoc bigotry against gay people wreaks; as a family tragedy; and as a tale with as many twists and turns as the reader could possibly hope for. Aubert writes with a heavy hand towards characterization, and her characters don't disappoint. Family is ever-present in Aubert's presentation, as Portal confronts differing viewpoints in his family. Aubert also takes on the issues of Vietnam, the awakening to Selma and Martin Luther King, the plight of gays, and the transformation of Italian immigrants to positions of power.

Shelley Glodowski
Senior Reviewer