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.)
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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: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,076,864 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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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.

3.0 out of 5 stars Boy, was this a letdown, February 21, 2012

By 

Robin Chalkley - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Snow Job (Hardcover)

The cover blurb reads, "Deverell is a master of the laugh-out-loud crime novel." Oh, really? Couldn't prove it by this book. It appears that Deverell thinks creating quirky characters equals being funny, that's the only justification I could find. The jacket copy reads, "And now Canada's funniest crime fiction writer has penned perhaps the most searing, most hilarious send-up ever of the shenanigans that pass for politics in the nation's capital." I kept waiting to laugh out loud...then I gave that up, and hoped to smile...then just to be mildly amused. Maybe it's a Canadian thing, I don't know. But Snow Job is full of stock characters, political caricatures, and a story barely interesting enough to keep me from putting it on the shelf after 50 pages - which I was sorely tempted to do. The strange thing is that this the main character here, Arthur Beauchamp, leads a series of novels. Maybe I just happened to start on Mr. Deverell's only dud, but a dud it is. I'd hoped I'd found an author whose backlist I could enjoy, but I was sadly mistaken.

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.