Leave Me by Dying

September 1, 2003
This plodding prequel to Aubert's Arthur Ellis Award–winning series (Free Reign, etc.) takes Ellis Portal back to his youth when he studied law at the University of Toronto, years before an unexplained scandal destroyed his career on the bench. Asked to accompany friend and fellow student Gleason Adams on a midnight mission to the city morgue, Portal finds himself immersed in the abrupt disappearance of a female corpse midway through an autopsy. Portal drags his feet in helping Adams solve this inexplicable although not very compelling conundrum, because of his desire to further his own law career by interning for a respected jurist. Against an awkwardly applied backdrop of such '60s events as civil rights marches, the New York World's Fair and Beatles concerts, we follow Ellis on his half-hearted search for Adams's mysterious connection to the victim. After a gloomy opening scene and a long winter of investigation, the happily-ever-after ending somehow doesn't seem to fit the grim events and setting of this disappointing tale. (Oct. 1)Forecast:The unmade bed on the jacket is an odd choice, as there's little or no sex in the book, nor is sleeping a theme. The novel would've been better served by art that reflected 1960s social issues.

September 1, 2003
The fourth Ellis Portal novel is perhaps the best yet. This time, in a prequel to the previous installments, Aubert focuses on a brief period during the former judge's University of Toronto law-school days. The year is 1965, and the 23-year-old Portal is hoping to be accepted into an accelerated law program. Portal falls in with fellow student Gleason Adams, a wealthy, world-weary character alternately infuriating and fascinating to the more driven Portal. When Adams drags Portal to the morgue to observe an autopsy on a murder victim, the body disappears, and no record of the crime can be found. As Adams tries to convince Portal to help him solve the mystery, Portal's brother, Michele, asks him to help a Native American friend avoid the American draft. Aubert skillfully interweaves hot topics of the day into the plot, including civil rights, the underground gay scene, Vietnam, and the Beatles. A must-read for both fans of the series and newcomers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2003, American Library Association.)