Kaleidoscope by Gail Bowen

25. – 657.) Kaleidoscope by Gail Bowen – The 13^th Joanne Kilbourn is one of the best in the series. The opening of the book sees Joanne retiring as a political science professor at the University of Regina. It is a time of conflicted emotions. She is ready to retire but still filled with energy. Her immediate goal is to enjoy summer at the cottage just outside Regina.

Her paraplegic husband, Zack Shreeve, is still practicing law at a frantic pace. One of the firm’s clients is Leland Hunter, a real estate developer, who is engaged to the lovely Margot, a partner of Zack. Hunter has started work on a massive project in Regina to re-develop the warehouse district and the adjacent North Central neighbourhood. Both areas are across the tracks, figuratively and literally from downtown. (In real life the North Central area has become one of the most notorious neighbourhoods in Canada.) Leland’s ambitious plans have upset some of the area’s residents, especially the Indian gangs.

Joanne, a staunch believer in “left of centre” politics, has to work to hold her tongue as she and Zack meet for supper with Leland and Margot at the loft condos their hosts own in the warehouse district. It is intriguing to see how Joanne, still committed to progressive politics, is now living a life amidst the rich and the powerful free from the stress of financial limitations.

While Leland is thinking about community relations Joanne and Zack are shocked when they receive a call at the cottage that a bomb has exploded in the garage of their Regina home destroying the garage and severely damaging the house. Members of the Red Rage gang are suspected of the bombing.

Joanne, Zack and Taylor, Joanne’s adopted 14 year old daughter, move into Leland’s condo while he moves in with Margot.

It is a frightening and confusing time for Joanne as she tries to figure what has happened to her orderly life but she has little time for reflection as life events crowd her.

The book features two wonderful weddings.

Joanne’s longtime friends, Barry and Ed, marry in a lovely urban wedding. In a wonderful twist Joanne is their best man. Following tradition in a new era the grooms select her wedding dress, a far more fabulous dress than she would have chosen.

At their vows they recite to each other “The Bargain” by Sir Philip Sidney from the 16^th Century:

            My true love hath my heart, and I have his,

            By just exchange one for another given;
            I hold his dear, and mine he cannot miss,
            There never was a better bargain driven.
            My true love hath my heart, and I have his.
            His heart in me keeps him and me in one,
            My heart in him his thoughts and senses guides;
            He loves my heart for once it was his own,
            I cherish his because in me it bides;
            My true love hath my heart, and I have his.

In a wedding that tugged at my heart Margot weds Leland in her hometown of Wadena (just 140 km down the highway from me). It is a classic rural Saskatchewan wedding of which I have attended dozens in my life. It is a community event filled with the participation of friends and family. It reminded me of the rural Saskatchewan wedding Nelson Brunanski portrayed equally well in Burnt Out.

We are in a new age of professional women. Prior to the wedding Joanne attends a power women supper of Margot’s friends that, in decades past, would only have featured men.

Back in Regina, Leland is working to involve the neighbourhood in his project. There is a terrific phrase in the book. We have all become accustomed to the phrase “collateral damage” as a euphemism for the unintended rather than intended injuries, death and damage from a bomb. In Kaleidoscope I was introduced to “collateral good” being an unexpected good event resulting from a bad situation.

Joanne continues to enjoy, though with a mother’s hesitancy, Taylor maturing, reaching out for relationships with boys and getting ready to start high school.

At work Zack is in the midst of a very demanding murder trial.

With great skill Gail brings together the threads of Joanne’s family, marriage, friends and mystery. I enjoyed the mystery but I loved the continuing development of Joanne’s life. Gail has never let Joanne’s life be static. I look forward to each book’s joys and heartaches. (May 2/12)

"B" is for Gail Bowen

A profile of Saskatchewan author, Gail Bowen, will be my entry at “B” in the meme, the Alphabet in Crime Fiction in 2012, hosted by Kerrie Smith at her blog, Mysteries in Paradise. I was glad Gail’s surname is early in the alphabet as it allows me to actually make this a week with Gail Bowen. I will be posting on Tuesday a review of her newest book, Kaleidoscope, in the Joanne Kilbourn series. I may be able to follow up with Q and A with Gail later in the week.

I obtained some basic biographical information off the Canadaka.net website:

Bowen, Gail (b. 1942). Born Gail Bartholomew in Toronto, she learned to read by age three from tombstones in Prospect Cemetery, a facility that was extremely useful when she was struck by polio two years later. She was educated at the University of Toronto (B.A.), University of Waterloo (M.A.), and the University of Saskatchewan, where she almost completed a Ph.D. After a series of extension-course teaching contracts in small-town locations across Saskatchewan and a ten-year sessional stint with the Saskatchewan Indian Federated College, University of Regina, she was granted tenure in the English department of the university in 1986.

She recently retired from teaching at what is now the First Nations University of Canada.

Last year Gail was writer in residence with the Calgary Public Library.

Her husband, Ted, is from Texas. He was also a university professor. They have 3 children (Hildy, Max, Nathaniel) and 2 grandchildren (Madeline and Alejandra).

What I can add to the official information is that Gail is a wonderful person to visit and with whom to share a meal. Conversation sparkles with Gail and Ted. They are interested, involved and ready to talk on any topic. If any reader has the chance to spend time with Gail I encourage them to take advantage of the opportunity. You will be stimulated and informed.

Gail has a unique home in Regina in that she has the only house in Saskatchewan that I know of that has a Cold War bomb shelter in the backyard. I was going to describe it as inaccessible but Gail advised me that Nathaniel has recently opened it up and pumped it out and shown it to some of the curious. It has been sealed up again.

Her backyard was also noteworthy on a visit Sharon and I had to her home for having mirrors hanging along the fence. It was an intriguing means of livening up the backyard.

You will not find Gail at an airport. She does not fly. When she needs to get to Eastern Canada to promote books or for other reasons she takes the train for that 2,500 km journey. She is currently on her way back from an author tour in Ontario.

I have read all of the Joanne Kilbourn series and reviewed most of them. You can find my reviews by clicking on Saskatchewan mysteries on the right hand side of the blog and going to the section on Gail.

All of the books in the series are based in Saskatchewan and feature elements of our lives in this province. Our geography, weather and people are all featured in her books.

I especially enjoy the development of Joanne’s family during the two decades of the series. Joanne has gone through raising her 3 children and is now involved in the lives of a stepdaughter and 2 granddaughters.

I can tell you in advance of the post that Kaleidoscope is an excellent addition to the series.

Suggestions for Gail Bowen on losing court cases

In the post below of Questions and Answers with Gail she put a question to me on ideas for losing court cases for her character, Zack Shreeve. I took up the challenge and this post is my answer to her.

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Gail

I have been considering your question back to me in your answers to my questions. You stated:

I think it would be good for Zack to lose a big case, especially if the case was one readers really wanted him to win and felt he deserved to win.  Any suggestions?

Thank you for the challenge.

Lawyers do not like to think about losing cases. Asking a lawyer to remember cases lost is to bring back painful memories. Reading the question instantly made me reflect on my personal experiences.

Every trial lawyer seeks to have some distance from a client to remain professional and objective but as I stated to students at the College of Law in a lecture I gave concerning my AIDS infected called “Representing the Dead and Dying” lawyers are not and should not be robots.

When you spend the tremendous amount of time with a client required by a major case you develop a special closeness. It is very hard when a client, who you consider credible, testifies and the court finds against them because the judge finds an opposing party the reliable witness.

The situation is compounded if the court does not reject evidence supporting your client but simply accepts evidence supporting the other side.

More directly responding to your question I have a few suggestions for cases Zack could lose.

First, there is a medical negligence action where Zack’s client, a university student, complains of back problems and is x-rayed. The radiologist misses a tumour which grows undetected until it is untreatable. There is strong expert evidence of physician error but at trial there is some expert evidence, accepted by the trial judge, stating it is not clear, that even if detected properly, there could have been successful treatment and the claim is dismissed. During the trial it is learned that the student is dying.

Second, a different scenario would involve Zack being asked to be a special prosecutor in a criminal case because of a conflict of interest for Public Prosecutions as the victim is a prosecutor. The case is a charge of assault arising from a confrontation in a bar provoked by the accused who is larger and younger than the victim. The evidence is overwhelming that the accused struck the victim repeatedly. The accused is the only witness to claim the victim made a threatening gesture towards him before he hit the accused. Opposing Zack is a young lawyer conducting her first jury trial. To the shock of all the accused is acquitted. The next day Zack, though not allowed to question the jury about their deliberations, runs into a juror while shopping who tells him the jury knew it was the young lawyer’s first jury trial and decided to acquit to give her a good start to her career. (Lest you think it incredible I read that John Diefenbaker won his first jury trial about 1920 for this reason.)

Thirdly, a mother has custody of a child with the father having lots of access since they live in the same city. The father hires Zack to seek custody when the mother proposes to move to South America with the child to pursue a new relationship. The child does not want to leave father, school, friends and other family members. Limited family finances mean he would see his father once a year but no one else in the family. The stepfather has a history of short term relationships. The trial judge leaves custody with the mother concluding she should be able to live with the child where she chooses to make her residence. On appeal the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada uphold the decision. (A variation of these facts and decision was an actual case out of Saskatchewan.)

Devastating for Zack but a reality for lawyers would be to have him lose all three cases in a row.

If any more good losing case ideas come to mind I will send them to you.

Thanks for your answers. They were great responses.

Best wishes.

Bill Selnes

Questions and Answers with Gail Bowen

Former university English professor, Gail Bowen, is one of my favourite authors. Her mysteries set in Saskatchewan featuring Joanne Kilbourn are consistently excellent. Recently I sent her five questions and she provided great replies. The questions and answers are:

1.) As a Saskatchewan lawyer in his late 50’s whose practice includes litigation I was excited when Zack Shreeve, a Saskatchewan litigator in his 50’s became an important character. Why did you add a lawyer to the series?

Zack Shreve was introduced in The Last Good Day.  The inspiration for the group of lawyers who form the law firm Falconer Shreve Altieri Wainberg and Hynd was a chance comment from a friend of mine who studied law here in Saskatchewan and is now a judge.  My friend said that when she was in first year law, the students knew at the end of the first six weeks who was going to be significant and who wasn’t.

    

I found the assessment a little chilling, but also fascinating. So in The Last Good Day, we meet ‘The Winners’ Circle’, five lawyers who 25 years earlier had come together because they realized they were the best and brightest in their class. After graduation, they became law partners, and professionally they have been extremely successful.  Their personal lives have been less successful and that, of course, is what draws me to them as characters.

In The Last Good Day one of the partners commits suicide. In his determination to find out why, Zack appears as a somewhat menacing, controlling character. He’s a brilliant but ruthless litigator and privately he lives on the edge. He’s fond of liquor, three-day poker games, women and fast cars.  He and Joanne Kilbourn, my protagonist, are as different as two people can be and yet, in a curious way, each completes the other.  They becomes lovers and within six months of their first meeting, they’re married.  As Joanne says, their marriage is not an easy one but it is a good one.

2.) Was there an inspiration for making the lawyer disabled? I do not know any Saskatchewan litigators who are paraplegic.

Zack is a paraplegic.  I modeled him in some ways after Charles Ruff, the paraplegic lawyer who defended Bill Clinton in his impeachment trial. He was brilliant, and the President was acquitted.  During the impeachment hearings, I’d been struck by Ruff’s eloquence and his ability to present a complex argument in terms that a layperson could understand and respond to.  I’d also been struck by his statement that he’d chosen the law because ‘it was a sedentary profession’.  Unlike Zack, Charles Ruff was self-effacing, but if you watched him closely you could see that he had a pretty healthy ego – a prerequisite, I understand, for any trial lawyer.

3.) While I have the occasional comment about how you portray court proceedings I have been impressed by your legal knowledge. Do you sit in on trials?

I’ve sat in on a couple of trials, but I have two close friends who are judges and I know a number of lawyers.  They all like to talk about the law and they all have war stories – although the judges’ war stories are all about their days as lawyers.  I like to listen. I’m also grateful to the lawyers who check out ‘the law’ in my books.  Truly this is a case where the errata are my own.  They give me good advice, and occasionally I ignore it.  Writers of fiction are mercifully freed from some constraints.  As Peter Robinson says, ‘never let the truth get in the way of a good story.’

4.) Every lawyer loves to talk about their successful cases. At the same time no one wins them all except in fiction. Can you see yourself writing about Zack losing a major case?

I think it would be good for Zack to lose a big case, especially if the case was one readers really wanted him to win and felt he deserved to win.  Any suggestions? (I am taking up the challenge and will be providing suggestions and posting them next week.)

5.) When you write about a case in the series do you adapt an existing case in the manner of many episodes in The Law and Order television series or are the cases original to you?

Because my books are driven by character, the cases are original.  For my purposes, the case has to ‘fit’ the character.  The crime has to grow out of what a particular person is and what combination of circumstance and character flaw might drive him or her to commit murder.  I can’t cite any specifics without a ‘spoiler alert’ for people who haven’t read the books, so I’ll just have to let people who have read the Joanne Kilbourn Shreve series cast their minds back.

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SEE POST BELOW THIS POST FOR ANSWERS TO GAIL'S QUESTION ON POSSIBLE LOSING CASES FOR ZACK.

The Nesting Dolls by Gail Bowen

36. - 549.) The Nesting Dolls by Gail Bowen – Joanne Shreeve (Kilbourn) and Zack Shreeve are looking to enjoy the Christmas season in Regina when history abruptly intrudes into the celebrations. Retired Supreme Court Justice, Theo Brokaw, and his wife, Myra, have returned from Regina after 27 years in Ottawa. (The tall lean Ukranian Brokaw immediately brought to mind former Saskatchewan Chief Justice, Ed Bayda.) The lawyers are saddened when they see major mental deterioration in the judge. There is more drama from the past of his partner, Delia Wainberg. Once again a partner’s problems are at the heart of the story. At Luther High School for a choir concert, a young woman with a striking resemblance to Delia, hands her 6 month old son, Jacob, to Delia and leaves the gym. As they search for the mother Joanne and Zack learn the baby is Delia’s grandchild. The adorable Jacob immediately bonds with the Wainberg family. Though his mother, Abby, is found murdered and raped the story focuses on Jacob’s future rather than the murder investigation. (Abby is a brilliant choice for a victim. P.D. James, in Talking About Detective Fiction, discussed the challenge for a mystery author picking a victim that readers will care about, who is “powerfully alive” to readers and a person for whom there is a good reason to be murdered. Abby is “powerfully alive” in her entry into Delia’s life, there is hurt in her violent death and she clearly has a dark secret that brought about her death.) Abby has a partner, Nadine Perault, back in Port Hope, Ontario. Delia and her husband, Noah, want to raise the grandchild. While better for the story, for a lawyer who does family law the preference given the grandparents in the custody dispute was hard to accept. In real life Nadine would have immediately gained custody of her child. It is very difficult for grandparents to get custody over a parent. Other threads in the story involve Joanne and Zack and their family. Taylor is a lovely 14 year old girl dealing with the challenges of becoming a young woman. Zack’s health as a paraplegic is always precarious. I found myself caring little about the solution of the mystery. I wanted to see what happened to the characters. The threads of the plot came smoothly together with pace accelerating to the conclusion. The solution to the murder was not a mystery. Excellent. (Sept. 11/10)

The Brutal Heart by Gail Bowen

48. - 458.) The Brutal Heart by Gail Bowen – Joanne Kilborn and her paraplegic husband, Zack Shreeve, are doing well. The series is evolving into the Kilborn and Shreeve series. Her older children are moving ahead in their lives, Taylor is a blossoming teenager and her grandchildren (Lena and Madeline) are adorable. High class call girl, Cristal Avilia is murdered. Joanne is shaken when she learns that, prior to their relationship, Zack had availed himself of Cristal’s professional skills. There are an abundance of prominent Reginans whose pasts are exposed by her death. In a very credible way Joanne and Zack deal with his past. At the same time Zack’s law firm is representing star conservative politician, Ginny Monaghan, in a nasty custody case. The trial is taking place during an election campaign. (It was alittle unreal to have a custody case over 14 year old twins. In real life the teenagers would have decided between the parents. You cannot force a teenager to live with someone.) During the trial rumours surface over the relationship between Ginny’s husband, Jason Brodsky, and Cristal. As Ginny’s political future seesaws during the heated election campaign Joanne explores Cristal’s life trying to find out what happened. I never thought about where call girls come from. Cristal came from Wadena. As the plot develops Zack and Joanne have a happy vivid family life. I cannot recall another mystery series where the heroine/hero has such a normal life. It does remain perilous to be a member of Zack’s office. There were touches of Saskatchewan in the book (mainly with regard to Regina locations and a trip to Wadena) but there is no essential Saskatchewan feature to the plot. The story is well told. I jumped into the book reading the opening 100 pages between Grey Cup events one afternoon and evening. As well, it is a great book because there is no other mystery series with a key character being a 50+ Saskatchewan lawyer. Harcover. (Nov. 24/08)

The Endless Knot by Gail Bowen

8. - 374.) The Endless Knot by Gail Bowen – What could be better – a Joanne Kilbourn mystery featuring a mid-50’s criminal lawyer who is also her passionate love interest. Zack Shreeve has become the focus of Joanne’s life. He is defending charismatic evangelical, Sam Parker, on an attempted murder charge with regard to a bullet that just missed Kathryn Morrisey who wrote a trashy bestseller on the struggling lives of Canadian celebreties. Sam’s son Glen is becoming Glenda and the anguish over the publicity has overwhelmed Sam. Joanne, on sabbatical from university, covers the trial for NationTV. At home Taylor is a precocious almost 11 year old who has a troubled 13 year old friend/acquaintance, Ethan. The trial features skilful cross-examinations. There are a couple of errors in procedure but it is well done. What is most intriguing about Zack is that he is a paraplegic succeeding as a lawyer and a skilled lover in the bedroom. The murder is almost incidental. Unlike most mystery series Bowen's characters actually grow in their lives during the series. Bowen is even more unique in her willingness to develop a family. A full generation’s experiences have been chronicled in the series. Excellent. Hardcover. (Jan. 28/07) (2nd Best Fiction of 2007)

The Last Good Day by Gail Bowen

74. - 255.) The Last Good Day by Gail Bowen – Not her best but the 9^th Joanne Kilbourn mystery is a very good story. Of course a mystery featuring Saskatchewan lawyers is bound to be good. It is better than the 8^th simply because it is a Saskatchewan story. Joanne is set to enjoy the summer at a legal enclave, Lawyer’s Bay, at a Qu’Appelle Valley lake with the partners of Falconer Shreeve, prominent Regina lawyers in their 40’s. Summer peace is shattered by the drowning death of partner Chris Altieri. Family and firm conflicts complicate the investigation. Former lover, Inspector Alex Kequahtooway, has a special personal connection to the firm. Amidst the turmoil Joanne finds a new love. The ending is a fair but I wish there were less bodies. More likely I am unhappy with the unexpected death of a continuing character. Hardcover. (Dec. 31/04)

Burying Ariel by Gail Bowen

36.) Burying Ariel by Gail Bowen – The seventh Joanne Kilbourn mystery involves the murder of a young political science professor at the University of Regina. Joanne is swept into a maelstrom of feminist ideology, university politics and tortured personal relationships. In a refreshing change from almost every mystery hero she continues to enjoy a normal family. Anyone unfamiliar with Saskatchewan will gain a sense of our way of life and the people of our province. Excellent. Hardcover buy. (Sept. 15/00) (Second best fiction of 2000)