Snow Job [Hardcover]

William Deverell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 6, 2009

In bestselling Deverell’s latest hilarious mystery, Arthur Beauchamp moves to Ottawa, and all hell breaks loose

Arthur Beauchamp has followed his wife, the leader and first elected member of the Green Party, to Ottawa. But he hates it there: the cold, the politics, and his place in his wife’s shadow. So when a delegation of government officials from Bhashyistan is blown sky high on Bronson Avenue and the shares of a Calgary-based oil company promptly drop like a stone, Arthur is only too happy to jump to the defence of the missing suspected assassin.

Deverell’s latest Arthur Beauchamp novel cranks the wily old lawyer’s adventures up several notches, and then some. It’s wildly imaginative, utterly Canadian, and irresistibly funny.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In Arthur Ellis Award–winner Deverell's rambling third novel to feature crafty lawyer Arthur Beauchamp (after 2008's Kill All the Judges), Igor Muckhali Ivanovich (aka Mad Igor), the dictator of the People's Republic of Bhashyistan (formerly part of the U.S.S.R.), declares war on Canada after a diplomatic delegation from the Central Asian nation is blown to bits while visiting Ottawa. Beauchamp and CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service) agent Ray DiPalma (the shape-shifting spy who never came in from the cold) go to Albania, where kidnappers have taken Arthur's client, Abzal Erzhan, the prime suspect in the terrorist incident. The Canadian political satire may be of less interest to U.S. readers than a subplot involving three Saskatchewan women who go AWOL from a tour of Bhashyistan during the conflict. The journal extracts written by one of them about the three finding shelter with the Bhashyistani Democratic Revolutionary Front have a sharp focus the main plot lacks. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"Smart, beautifully written, and really, really funny satire featuring Arthur Beauchamp, one of Canadian crime fiction's truly original characters. The best novel by Deverell ever."
— Margaret Cannon, Globe and Mail

"Though the story is dead serious at its heart, Deverell has much material that is as funny as anything he's written." 
— Toronto Star

"Fine writing and tongue-in-cheek delivery with acid shots at our political circus, and so close to reality that it seems even funnier. A must-read." 
— Hamilton Spectator

"Deverell's imagination gets high marks for postulating what happens when an obscure country declares war on Canada." 
— Quill & Quire

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 408 pages
• Publisher: McClelland & Stewart; 1St Edition edition (October 6, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0771027222
• ISBN-13: 978-0771027222
• Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 1.2 x 9.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,526,587 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Totally engaging characters and frankly... hilarious!, December 10, 2010

By 

KaMaRa (Left Coast, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Snow Job (Globe and Mail Best Books) (Mass Market Paperback)

William Deverell is an absolute gem of a mystery writer... truly deserves better exposure to the American mystery reading public. While his books open up all imaginable variables in the law, lawyers and the justice(?) system, these are very far from being dry dull reads. I appreciate most of all Deverell's razor sharp wit (triggers laugh-out-loud hoots) and adore all of his profound and well developed characters, be they lawyers, woofers or Newfie poets (ya gotta read the books to find out...). This one's a hoot to read, perfect for holiday lounging time. Highly, highly recommeded, as are all of his previous books.

4.0 out of 5 stars Island reading, December 6, 2009

By 

Curt J. Firestone "Salt Spring Curt" (British Columbia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Snow Job (Hardcover)

This book is well written and a fun read. I especially enjoyed the parallels with current day Gulf Island life and Canadian politics.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Liked the author's voice; DNF'd after 12 chapters due to plot, December 8, 2010

By 

L. J. Roberts (Oakland, CA, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Snow Job (Globe and Mail Best Books) (Mass Market Paperback)

First sentence: "I am satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that ... that thing over there, that statue or whatever you want to call it, is what the Criminal Code calls a disgusting object."

Canadian lawyer Arthur Beauchamp is 60 years old, married to the country's only Green Party MP, who is twenty years' his junior. Arthur wants nothing more than to retire on his farm on Garibaldi Island in Vancouver. Instead, he ends up becoming the lawyer for the family of Abzal Ehrzan, a man accused of killing six Bashystani cabinet ministers visiting Ottawa regarding a deal on the Bashistan oil fields.

I'm afraid this book lost me after 12 chapters. It wasn't that I didn't like the protagonist; I did. Arthur Beauchamp is a character who appealed to me from the very beginning. I liked the characters' introspective observations about himself, his younger wife and her still much younger staff.

The author's voice is one I always enjoy. He employs a wonderful use of vocabulary even though I found myself reading with the book in one hand and a dictionary in the other. The wry humor...""Farewell Reception," the embossed card read, an oxymoronic keepsake." often made me laugh.

There were two main reasons why I stopped reading. The first was redundancy--I don't know how many times, in those first 12 chapters, we were told about Arthur's divorce, descent into alcohol and the writing of his memories. The second reason was that the plot, as far as I read, rather plodded along without going anywhere particularly interesting. Add to those the fact the book is supposed to be a satirical look at Canadian politics. Not being Canadian, I know almost nothing about their politics so the satire was lost on me. That being said, I find myself intrigued by Mr. Deverell and would consider trying a different book by him ["April Fool" has been recommended].

SNOW JOB (Legal Mys-Arthur Beauchamp-Canada-Cont) - DNF
Deverell, William - Standalone
McClelland & Stewart; Reprint Edition ©2010, US Paperback - ISBN: 9780771027239