The Dance of Shiva

by William Deverell

Book Overview

Twenty members of a cult are found massacred on an isolated island on Canada's West Coast. Their leader, Shiva Ram Acharya, is brought to trial, and the great Arthur Beauchamp defends him, assisted by his junior counsel Max Macarthur. Shiva claims to have amnesia and refuses to participate in his own defence. But Macarthur gradually becomes convinced of his innocence, embarking on the greatest challenge of his career -- a dangerous quest for the true...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1550226592
• ISBN13: 9781550226591
• Release Date: December 2004
• Publisher: ECW Press
• Length: 426 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.1" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

William Deverell's Finest Novel

In Dance of Shiva we are introduced to many of the characters that populate Deverell's later novels: Max Macarthur and his law partner's at Pomeroy, Marx, Macarthur, Brovak and Sage; the alcoholic but brilliant lead counsel for the defense, Arthur Beauchamp; crown prosecutor Leroy Lukey, and a host of others. Deverell splendidly captures the feel of Vancouver in the early eighties, and he writes with the knowledge of the Canadian legal system that could only come from the star attorney who long headed the BC Civil Liberties Association.Shiva is the Rama of a commune who is accused of murdering his 22 followers. Arthur Beauchamp is his defense attorney, and Max Macarthur his able assistant, who soon finds himself enthralled with Shiva's charisma and mystique. As the case unfolds in court, Macarthur finds himself wondering whether he's defending a mad man, or a framed messiah. And just where does the American Heiress who ran off to join the Moonies fit into it all? Funny, poignant, remarkable, the superlatives could go on forever. Simply put: Read it.