Arthur Ransome Beauchamp has risen yet again. The fusty, feisty, now-retired lawyer is alive and reasonably well on his Garibaldi Island home in William Deverell’s new novel, April Fool.

The action begins when Nick “The Owl” Falloon, Beauchamp’s former client, decides to restock his retirement kitty. As the world’s fifth-ranked jewel thief, he had saved for his retirement and purchased a hostel for backpackers in the picturesque village of Bamfield on Vancouver Island. Lacking backpackers during the winter months, Falloon solves his cash-flow crisis by robbing the suites of eight wealthy Kansas tourists at a nearby deluxe resort.

Unfortunately, on the same evening someone rapes and murders a Vancouver woman renting a cottage not far from Falloon’s hostel. And Falloon just happens to have a conviction for rape in his past – the one time Arthur Beauchamp couldn’t get him off, and the one time he was actually innocent of the charges.

Meanwhile, back on Garibaldi Island, all hell’s breaking loose as Margaret, the love of Beauchamp’s life, leads the Save Gwendolyn Society into action to save an unspoiled piece of the island at Gwendolyn Bay from the developers. She’s up a tree, literally, and Beauchamp realizes the only way to win her back is to don the robes once more and win the battle of injunctions taking place in the courts. Make that twice more: he’s also feeling guilty about Falloon’s previous wrongful conviction for rape and knows he needs to represent him again.

Beauchamp is a wonderfully rich character – heroic yet fallible, droll and cynical, yet almost helpless in his love for Margaret. He is also barely confident in what he sees as his eroding lawyer’s skills. Readers gladly follow all of Deverell’s distinctly drawn characters through tiny outposts on Canada’s West Coast to the courtrooms of Victoria and Vancouver and the fine hotels of Europe. He is a master storyteller with a wonderful sense of humour. The story flows effortlessly, and readers are twigs on the river, along for one hell of a ride.