Denial by Beverley McLachlin

(24. - 1207.) Denial by Beverley McLachlin - “The Fixer” is vexed and desperate in Vancouver. Joseph Quentin is famous for “fixing the messes the rich and powerful get themselves into”. What he cannot fix is the murder charge against his wife, Vera, for killing her mother who was suffering from incurable cancer. Vera has driven off two prominent defence counsel and refused to agree to the plea bargain Joseph had arranged where she would have served less than a year in jail. Vera will not plead guilty. The twice postponed trial is 3 weeks and 5 days away.

Quentin asks, then pleads with Jilly Truitt to take the case. Truitt wants to decline but is touched when she realizes Quentin is honouring the vows of his marriage. He committed to caring for Vera 25 years ago and will stay with her to the end. 

Truitt decides to take the case. I knew she would, even without Quentin’s commitment to his wife, for once a litigator meets a potential client protestations of busyness and not wanting to take on a losing case fade away. If a lawyer genuinely does not want a case the lawyer does not meet the proposed client.

The facts are challenging. Vera, long depressed, abuses both powerful drugs and wine. Her mother, Olivia Stanton, is on multiple medications. Vera is spending the night with her mother and administering medication to her. While ill her mother does not qualify for MAIDS (Medical Assistance In Dying). In the morning Olivia is dead.

Her death was caused by a fatal injection of morphine.

Morphine and needles were stored upstairs but when Vera takes the police the morphine kit is no longer there.

Vera swears someone else secretly entered the house and killed her mother. The “Mysterious Stranger Defence” is one of the hardest defences in the world of criminal defence.

Truitt muses on guilty clients claiming innocence:

In the end, it’s usually self-delusion, an inability to accept what they have done, the brain playing tricks - denial.

After disclosure arrives in a banker’s box the defence lawyers and their investigator read and read and read. 

There is no sign of forced entry. All keys to the house are accounted for by the police. There is no physical evidence anyone was in the house that night but Vera and her mother.

Truitt knows she needs more than her client protesting innocence.

The murder takes place in Kerrisdale, one of Vancouver’s wealthiest neighbourhoods.

Olivia’s 70 year old house and lot have been sold for $4.5 million. The house is being demolished by the buyer. Olivia had lived there for 52 years. 

There is distance between Vera and Joe and Nicholas. Joe wants to believe her but he negotiated the plea deal not wanting her to spend 10 years in prison. A practical man but not accepting of her statement of innocence. 

Nicholas, a pianist, in a jazz band is also a reluctant law school attendee. 

Finally, a legal mystery where the lawyer is struggling to prepare for a major trial while constantly dealing with other cases. In real life litigators cannot simply put on hold all their other files while getting ready for an upcoming trial. Only in fiction does a lawyer have the time to just deal with the big case.

Michael Connelly’s lawyer, Mickey Haller, used to juggle cases when he was truly the Lincoln Lawyer but he has evolved into a regular fictional lawyer with all his time for the case featured in a book.

My credibility was being stretched when Truitt has no defence planned 3 days before trial. Be the defence of denial strong or weak it is Vera’s defence.

They know they must offer at least a name of a potential alternative to Vera. Of the options only Nicholas is possible but Vera forbids Truitt raising his name.

Truitt attempts again a relationship with former lover Mike St. John. Each believes she/he is ready for a commitment to the other.

The cross-examinations by Truitt and the prosecutor, Cy Vance, are elegant, even brilliant. I could see the lawyer, the witness and the accused. As I find in an actual trial, my focus was upon the witness and the lawyer. Nothing else matters during evidence.

McLachlin is improving as a fiction author. She moves the plot briskly while retaining an eye for convincing detail.

McLachlin adds a brilliant ruthless twist I never saw coming. 

Then there are more developments. I was suddenly in a Jeffery Deaver plot. I have mixed emotions about the ending. It was compelling but incredible. 

I hope McLachlin continues to write legal mysteries. She can be the successor on the West Coast to William Deverell but not yet as Deverell has a new legal mystery being published this month.

****

McLachlin, Beverley - (2018) - Full Disclosure and Full Disclosure Within Full Disclosure