William Deverell

William Herbert Deverell (born March 4, 1937) is a Canadian writer, criminal lawyer, and civil liberties activist. One of Canada's best-known novelists, his debut novel Needles, based on his legal experience, won the $50,000 Seal First Novel Award from McClelland & Stewart. He received the Hammett Prize in 1998 for Trial of Passion, which also won the 1998 Arthur Ellis Award for Best Novel; April Fool won the same award in 2003. Trial of Passion launched his long-running crime series about Arthur Beauchamp, a classically trained, self-doubting barrister who solves crimes in releases such as April Fool, Kill All the Judges, Snow Job, I'll See You in My Dreams, Sing a Worried Song, Whipped, and Stung.