Allan Donaldson's first novel, Maclean, was shortlisted for the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize. Donaldson's new novel is a literary mystery set in the fictional town of Wakefield, New Brunswick, against the backdrop of the Second World War. Following a night at The Silver Dollar dance hall, a teenage girl turns up dead in a gravel pit. The last person reported to have seen her is Owen Williams, an introverted soldier stationed with the local garrison of "Zombies"—conscripted men unwilling to serve overseas. When Lieutenant Bernard Dorkin, a young lawyer from Saint John, volunteers to defend Williams, whom he believes is innocent, he finds himself up against a theatrical local favourite leading the prosecution and a public mostly hell-bent on a foregone conclusion. The Case Against Owen Williams explores the potential for wrongful conviction and the gaps in the justice system that allow it to flourish.

Allan Donaldson was born in Taber, Alberta, but grew up in Woodstock, New Brunswick. He studied English literature at the University of New Brunswick (UNB) and the University of London, and he spent a teaching career in the English department at UNB. He is also the author of a book of short stories, Paradise Siding, and a novel, The Case Against Owen Williams. He lives in Fredericton, New Brunswick.

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