About Me

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Melfort, Saskatchewan, Canada
I am a lawyer in Melfort, Saskatchewan, Canada who enjoys reading, especially mysteries. Since 2000 I have been writing personal book reviews. This blog includes my reviews, information on and interviews with authors and descriptions of mystery bookstores I have visited. I strive to review all Saskatchewan mysteries. Other Canadian mysteries are listed under the Rest of Canada. As a lawyer I am always interested in legal mysteries. I have a separate page for legal mysteries. Occasionally my reviews of legal mysteries comment on the legal reality of the mystery. You can follow the progression of my favourite authors with up to 15 reviews. Each year I select my favourites in "Bill's Best of ----". As well as current reviews I am posting reviews from 2000 to 2011. Below my most recent couple of posts are the posts of Saskatchewan mysteries I have reviewed alphabetically by author. If you only want a sentence or two description of the book and my recommendation when deciding whether to read the book look at the bold portion of the review. If you would like to email me the link to my email is on the profile page.

Legal Mysteries and Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction


CANADA

Red Mass by Rosemary Aubert

The Boat People and An Ending for The Boat People and Thoughts on the End of Summer 2020 by Sharon Bala

A Trial of Passion and Snow Job and I'll See You in My Dreams and Kill All the Lawyers and Removing Indigenous Children from Their Families in Crime Fiction and "D" is for William Deverell and The Lawyers of Kill All the Lawyers and Sing a Worried Song and Truth is Stranger Than Fiction - Sing a Worried Song and Whipped and A Fictional Porcupine Plain and Stung and A Fictional Defence of "Necessity" by William Deverell

Blackwater Bluff   by S.M. Hurley and Sitting in the Dock and Exchanging Emails with Another Rural Canadian Lawyer

Wishful Seeing by Janet Kellough

Old City Hall and The Guilty Plea by Robert Rotenberg and Questions and Answers with Robert Rotenberg and Thoughts on Questions and Answers and Stray Bullets with Q and A and Thoughts on Q and A and "R" is for Robert Rotenberg and Stranglehold with Q and A and Thoughts on Q & A and Heart of the City and Lawyers Hate to Lose and Downfall

Full Disclosure and Full Disclosure Within Full Disclosure by Beverley McLachlin

 A Settling of Accounts by Douglas Schmeiser

Political Addictions by Garrett Wilson


UNITED STATES

While Justice Sleeps (Washington D.C.) by Stacey Abrams

Once We Were Brothers and Eyewitness Evidence Six Decades After WW II (Chicago and Poland) by Ronald H. Balson

The Emperor of Ocean Park (Fictional Elm Harbor in New England and Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts) by Stephen L. Carter

Th1rt3en and At Issue with Th1rt3en (New York City) by Steve Cavanagh

The Lincoln Lawyer and The Brass Verdict and The Reversal  and The Fifth Witness and The Gods of Guilt and The "Bloody Flag Move" is Sleazy and Unethical and The Crossing and Lawyers and Police Shifting Sides and The Wrong Side of Goodbye and A Famous Holograph Will and The Law of Innocence and Writing a Credible Trial and Resurrection Walk (California) by Michael Connelly

Murder One (Seattle) and Email Exchange with Dugoni on Legal Ethics and The Jury Master (San Francisco) and My Sister's Grave (Fictional Cedar Grove in Washington) by Robert Dugoni

The Wrong Man (Somewhere in Western America) by David Ellis

Terminal City  and Killer Heat (New York City) by Linda Fairstein and The Mystery of FDR's Armored Train and Grand Central and Linda Fairstein and the Central Park 5 - Started and Finished

Class Action and A Differentiated Homework Plan (Los Angeles) by Steven B. Frank

The Color of Law  and Legal Representation in The Color of Law (Dallas) by Mark Gimenez

An Equal Justice and Fictional Law Firm Earnings (Dallas) by Chad Zunker

Havana Requiem and Goldstein's reaction to winning the Harper Lee Prize (New York) and A Patent Lie  and Patents and Vaccines and Ethics (San Francisco) and Errors and Omissions and Review of Errors and Omissions and Paul Goldstein in Reverse (Los Angeles) by Paul Goldstein 

Tom & Lucky and George and Cokey Flo (New York City) and George Morton Levy Lawyer by C. Joseph Greaves

Gone Again (Miami) by James Grippando

The Appeal (Mississippi) and The Associate (New York City) and The Confession (Texas) and The Litigators (Chicago) and The Racketeer (Virginia) and Sycamore Row (Mississippi) and Gray Mountain (Appalachian Virginia) and "G" is for John Grisham - Part I and Part II and Grisham's Lawyers and Analyzing Grisham's Lawyers and Gray Mountain and Real Life Legal Aid (Virginia) and Rogue Lawyer and  Sebastian Rudd (Mid-West) and The Whistler (Florida) and The Rooster Bar and Law Students and Integrity (Washington D.C.) and The Reckoning (Mississippi) and Cullen Post in The Guardians and The Guardians (North Central Florida) and A Time for Mercy and Practising Law in Rural Mississippi and Saskatchewan and
Writing aCredible Trial (Mississippi) and TheJudge's List(Florida) and The Biloxi Boys (Mississippi) and Body Counts in Fictional Gang Wars (Ian Hamilton, John Grisham and Don Winslow) and The Exchange (New York City, Tripoli and Rome) by John Grisham

Snow Falling on Cedars and Race and Ethnicity in War and A Page in the Sun (San Piedro Island, Washington) by David Guterson

Courting Death and Pageant Girls are Law Students and An Exchange of Emails on the Plot and Cotton (Clarkeston, Georgia) by Paul J. Heald

The Secret of Magic and Regina Mary Robichard and Jean Louise "Scout" Finch (Mississippi) by Deborah Johnson

Felony Murder (New York) by Joseph T. Klempner

Defending Jacob (Massachusetts) by William Landay

To Kill a Mockingbird  and Go Set a Watchman (Rural Alabama) by Harper Lee

Solomon v. Lord and The Deep Blue Goodbye and Kill All the Lawyers and "L" is for Paul Levine and Trial & Error (Florida) by Paul Levine

Pleasantville and Black Water Rising and Wishing I had Read the Books in Order (Houston) by Attica Locke

Billy Strobe (San Francisco) by John Martel

Bury Me Deep  and Harold Q. Masur - Hard Boiled Lawyers (New York) by Harold Q. Masur

Bone Valley and Wildcat Wine and Skinny-Dipping and Sweetheart Deal (Florida) by Claire Matturro

The Hallows (Fictional town of River Falls, Utah) by Victor Methos

Last Days of Night and Paul Cravath (New York City) by Graham Moore

The Vicar of Christ and An American Pope Francesco  (Korea and Washington D.C. and the Vatican City) by Walter F. Murphy

Small Great Things and Small Great Things Continued (Connecticut) by Jodi Picoult

In Plain Sight (Flagstaff, Arizona) by Tara Taylor Quinn

In the Shadow of the Law and Allegiance - Enjoyed v. Disliked(Washington, D.C.) by Kermit Roosevelt III

Slip & Fall (New York - Brooklyn) by Nick Santora

Exposed (Philadelphia) by Lisa Scottoline

Proof (Los Angeles) by C.E. Tobisman

Innocent (Fictional Midwestern America and Netherlands/Bosnia) by Scott Turow and "T" is for Scott Turow and One L (Guest Post by Michael Selnes)One L (My Review) and Thoughts on Reviews of One L by Myself and Michael and Identical and Testimony and Lawyers and Opportunities in International Criminal Courts and The Last Trial - Opening and Mid-Trial and Closing

The Last Billable Hour (San Mateo, California) and Who is Susan Wolfe? and This is Susan Wolfe; and (Silicon Valley) Escape Velocity  by Susan Wolfe and Georgia Griffin and Ken Madigan in Escape Velocity and Email Exchange with Susan Wolfe


Eight in a Box (Boston) by Raffi Yessayan 


REST OF THE WORLD

Who Killed Sir Harry and My Theory on Who Killed Sir Harry(Bahamas) by Eric Minns

Death Turns the Tables (England) by John Dickson Carr

The Judas Window (England) by John Dickson Carr writing as Carter Dickson

All the Lonely People and A Dislike of Cynical Lawyers (England) by Martin Edwards

The Night Lawyer (England) by Michelle Spring

The Collini Case (Germany) Without Spoilers and With Spoilers by Ferdinand Von Schirach

Last Rituals (Iceland) by Yrsa Sigurdottir

The Widows of Malabar Hill and A First Woman Lawyer to be Admired and The Satapur Moonstone and Parsi Gara Saris in Mistry Mysteries and The Bombay Prince and The Mistress of Bhatia House and Being Seen in Court (India) by Sujata Massey

Involuntary Witness (Italy) by Gianrico Carofiglio

Red April (Peru) by Santiago Roncagliolo

Beyond All Reasonable Doubt (Sweden) by Malin Persson Giolito

Sunstorm (Sweden) by Asa Larsson

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Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction -

Background and information on 2011 and 2012 shortlists and winners

2013 Shortlist and 2013 Winner - Havana Requiem

2014 Shortlist and My Choice for the 2014 Prize and 2014 Winner - Sycamore Row

2015 Shortlist and My Choice for the 2015 Prize and 2015 Winner - The Secret of Magic

2016 Shortlist and 2016 Winner - Pleasantville

2017 Shortlist and My Choice for the 2017 Prize and 2017 Winner - Gone Again

2018 Shortlist and My Choice for the 2018 Prize and 2018 Winner - Proof

2019 Shortlist  and My Choice for the 2019 Prize and 2019 Winner- The Boat People