The toughest case of Beauchamp’s brilliant career features sex, slander, and dirty politics

Montreal journalist Lou Sabatino, under witness protection after nearly being gunned down by the Mafia, is sucked into the quirky world of a conniving Russian dominatrix who has secretly recorded herself putting the whip to the bare bottom of a high-ranking federal cabinet minister.

It’s the scoop of the century, but too hot a potato — if Lou breaks the story, he risks exposing himself to the mercies of the Mafia. Instead, he shows the video to Green Party leader Margaret Blake. The video is leaked, and Margaret is sued by the minister for $50 million.

Enter Arthur Beauchamp, Margaret’s husband and famed criminal lawyer, who had found — or so he hoped — blissful retirement on idyllic Garibaldi Island on the West Coast. But now he’s representing the woman he loves while tormented by fears that she’s embroiled in an affair.

Whether you’re encountering Arthur Beauchamp for the first time or have followed him from his first case, Whipped will entertain as it keeps you turning the pages.

William Deverell's profile page

William Deverell was a journalist for seven years and a trial lawyer for 25, as defender or prosecutor in more than a thousand criminal cases, including 30 murder trials. The author of over 20 novels, Deverell has won the $50,000 Seal First Novel Prize and the Book of the Year Award, the Dashiell Hammett Award for literary excellence in crime writing in North America, as well as two Arthur Ellis Awards for best Canadian crime novel. His work has been translated into 14 languages and sold worldwide. He lives on Pender Island, B.C.

“Whipped is vintage Deverell: sardonic yet humane, with a cast of complicated characters, seemingly effortless storytelling, and more than a touch of the absurd. Over twenty novels to his credit, and somehow he just keeps getting better.” — John MacLachlan Gray, award-winning author of The Fiend in Human and Billy Bishop Goes to War

“William Deverell, in his new book Whipped, combines his unique rollicking, raucous, fast-paced writing style, with his jaundiced eye for Canadian politics, and his love for the work of a skilled trial lawyer, Arthur Beauchamp. As usual, he features the composite South Gulf Island, Garibaldi Island, and its quirky crew of idiosyncratic residents. Well worth a read.” — Mike Harcourt, former Vancouver Mayor, B.C. Premier, fellow Garibaldi Island resident with Bill Deverell

“Whipped is a heady blend of sex, politics and blackmail with New Age group-grope, Russian perfidy and Mafia machinations — a tale that's fresh, original and funny, a totally delightful romp.” — Silver Donald Cameron, author of Warrior Lawyers and writer/narrator of the documentary film Green Rights: The Human Right to a Healthy World

“Always a delight to spend time in the company of the urbane, classically minded, and wittily conflicted Arthur Beauchamp. As a fellow resident of the Gulf Islands, I revel in Mr Deverell’s droll depiction of their weird and wonderful residents. As a political junkie, I love the skewering of those pompous politicians. Wrap it all up in terrific prose and a driving plot, you have the perfect antidote to a wet weekend.” — C. C. Humphreys, Arthur Ellis Award–winning author of Plague

“Once again, legendary lawyer Arthur Beauchamp is dragged from his idyllic retirement on Garibaldi Island, only this time to defend his garrulous wife, Margaret, the Green Party leader, from a rogue microphone and a multi-million dollar slander suit issued by an arrogant cabinet minister with a penchant for being ridden bareback by a whip wielding dominatrix — taking the reader for another wild ride as the great lawyer gradually unleashes his defense of his wife. It’s a hoot — a story with a real snap.” — Brian Brett, award-winning author of Trauma Farm and Tuco