A detailed legal mystery that may have you wanting more
Those hoping that the former chief justice of Canada’s Supreme Court was publishing her memoirs will be disappointed to learn that her first book, “Full Disclosure,” (published in April, 2017) is a courtroom drama/ murder mystery. As such it bears some of the marks of a first novel but in the end (which is full of surprises) provides a satisfying read.
Jilly Truitt has a budding career as a Vancouver defence prosecutor Cy Kenge. She is asked to represent Vincent Trussardi, an affluent business owner accused of murdering his wife Laura. Her body was found in their lavish home, the bullet came from his gun, which has not been found.
Trussardi says little when Jilly asks why he chose her when he could afford any lawyer in town, but she agrees to defend him. Kenge will be heading the prosecution. Both get down to the hard work of building their cases.
Truitt achieves a surprise verdict in another murder charge, against Damon Cheskey, a young man accused of murdering his drug supplier. When she finds Damon about to kill himself, she takes him home and hires him to be the “gopher” in her law office. Only much later will she learn that he had connections to the deceased.
Her own past is gradually disclosed. As a foster child, she ran away several times before finally landing with a good family with whom she is still connected. Her foster father knew the Trussardis. And her boyfriend is Laura’s cousin. When the papers publish a photo of the two of them at Laura’s funeral, she pulls back from their relationship.
So if it was not Vincent, who killed Laura? The architect who designed their house was having an affair with Laura but Vincent is convinced it was over and that she was pregnant with his, and not the lover’s, child. Vincent’s older sister, Raquella, is a former athlete now confined to a wheelchair. She lives in an adjoining wing of the Trussardi North Van mansion but claims she heard nothing on the day of the murder. Or was it the buxom housekeeper?
What differentiates “Full Disclosure” from similar legal mysteries is the author’s skill in knowing every step of the pretrial and courtroom process, including the role of the defence attorney and crown prosecutor, jury selection, evidence collecting and admissibility, cross-examination techniques, tunnel vision, reasonable doubt and so on. It is the Vancouver Police that Jilly accuses of tunnel vision — failing to look at other evidence once they assumed that Vincent was the perpetrator. In light of the delays in uncovering the Robert Pickton serial murders (which get more than passing digs — pun unintended — from McLachlin) this criticism is justified.
But the book also bears some first-novel marks, as I mentioned. In the scene where she and Vincent arrive in a limo for the opening day of the trial: “Curious court watchers press between cameras and the clamouring press.” Ouch! Don’t use press as a verb and a noun in the same sentence. I was a little surprised by how Jilly and Cy Kenge move in the same social circles, given their rivalry before a judge and jury. It’s a chance encounter at a party with Cy’s wife that is behind the book’s title. The prosecution must fully disclose to the defence all evidence details and witnesses that they will be using in court.
But these are quibbles. The post-verdict ending will rock any assumptions you had about Vincent and his lawyer. I still yearn to read about Beverley McLachlin’s career as our country’s top judiciary, but in the meantime, I await the next in what I hope is a series of novels starring Jilly Truitt.
Chuck Erion is the former co-owner of Words Worth Books, Waterloo.