The Long-Shot Trial
An Arthur Beauchamp Thriller
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- Pre-Order
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- Expected May 28, 2024
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- $7.99
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- Pre-Order
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
Arthur Beauchamp takes a break from the courtroom to write a memoir so he can set the record straight about a headline murder case he fought as a young lawyer in 1966. The trial would either mark him as a pathetic loser or thrust him into the top ranks of criminal counsel.
The background: in 1966, a young housemaid was raped by her employer, a callous and vindictive millionaire. She shot him point blank, so it seemed an open-and-shut case of first-degree murder. Enter Arthur Beauchamp, a young lawyer haunted by having bungled his only previous murder case. He is now called upon to defend a murder that he is almost certain can’t be won. But as the trial speeds through twists and turns, his slashing cross-examinations bring hope that the jury might entertain a reasonable doubt.
In present time, Arthur learns that writing about his social gaffes, booze, and sex is not easy, especially as his efforts are regularly interrupted by the quirky characters who inhabit his supposedly idyllic Garibaldi Island.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Deverell shines in his clever latest outing for Arthur Beauchamp (after Stung), which finds the Canadian defense attorney looking back on a decades-old murder case. In 1966, Angelina Santos, a maid, confessed to murdering her employer, business magnate Frederick Trudd, with his own rifle. She claimed Trudd had long been abusing her, and that he raped her three days before she killed him. Despite the long odds of winning an acquittal, 29-year-old Beauchamp is assigned to defend Santos, and urged by his boss to make a good-faith effort. Haunted by the loss of his only previous murder trial, Beauchamp is determined to find weaknesses in the prosecution's case. As the trial unfolds in 1966, Deverell shuffles in chapters set in the present day: biographer Wentworth Chase has published a second edition of his book about Beauchamp's career, with new material about the Santos case that Beauchamp disputes. To set the record straight, he begins writing a memoir that covers the early days of his career. The ingenious framing device and surprise-packed courtroom action put this on the level of the series' best entries. It's a surefire winner.
