Few facts in the new fiction.

• Author: Boll, Rosemarie

TV courtroom drama bears about as much relation to a real courtroom as ER does to an actual hospital emergency department. Like the emergency department, the courtroom is a convenient setting for many of life's struggles -- the stuff TV dramas thrive on -- whether those struggles are law-related or not. The legal system provides roles (judge, juror, witness, party, lawyer) that are useful to showcase the entanglements among the various characters. Overall, TV courtroom dramas are more about the seven deadly sins than they are about any legal principles. Likely, the need to deliver viewers to advertisers is far more important to the show's creators than any desire to explain the legal system.

By their nature, novels allow for much deeper exploration of all themes, including the law and how it affects us. So how do lawyers fare in Canadian literary culture? Unlike American literature, Canadian literature offers few fictional Canadian lawyers from whom to choose. I picked three novels, one written by an experienced author and two by writers new to the courtroom fiction scene.

William Deverell is a well-known Canadian lawyer and writer (he's also the creator of the popular TV show Street Legal). His 1997 novel Trial of Passion is set in British Columbia. It tells the story of Arthur Beauchamp, a 63-year-old burnt-out lawyer who's looking to leave all his emotional baggage behind and start a new life in retirement. He's a likeable fellow with a troubled past. Impotent and trapped in a loveless marriage, estranged from an emotionally-distant daughter, Arthur fell into the pit of alcoholism. He used the demands of a busy law practice as an excuse to avoid dealing with relationships. For forty years, Arthur's whole identity consisted of being a lawyer. He was sure of himself only in showy court performances. In the early years of his career, those court performances were skilful and professional, but toward the end, he even showed up in court drunk and boastful. Under the layers of bravado, nothing was going right.

By the time the action starts, Arthur is dry and coming to grips with his failed emotional life. He leaves his family and quits his law practice. Arthur moves to a small island off BC's coast. There, he gradually parts with the hallmarks of his former life -- a fancy car, expensive suits, an ample paunch. He meets and comes to respect the island's eccentric residents. Arthur takes up gardening and returns to his classical roots, reading...