Last Dance: A Winston Patrick Mystery

Winston Patrick Mystery #2

by David Russell

Winston Patrick was a successful lawyer who defended the downtrodden of Vancouver's criminal world. Dissatisfied with his career, he traded in the courtroom for the high school classroom. Winston is barely surviving his first year at a Vancouver high school when his students present a human rights issue. A student wants to bring his same-sex partner to the high school prom, but the school won't let him.

Winston reluctantly leads his proteges on their first legal quest: suing the school. He never thought that fighting for a student's rights could have deadly consequences, but as the issue gains publicity, Winston discovers that their opponents will stop at nothing to make their point — not even murder.

David Russell's first Winston Patrick novel, Deadly Lessons, was shortlisted for an Arthur Ellis Award for best first crime novel.

Genres: Book Club

432 pages, Paperback

First published May 10, 2011

About the author

David Russell is a long-time member of the arts community in Vancouver. He has worked on stage and television, including performing as a company member with the Vancouver TheatreSports League for more than 15 years. Russell has written freelance for a number of publications, including Maclean's, Vancouver's Sun and Province, the award-winning online news site The Tyee, and others. He lives in Burnaby, British Columbia.

Reviews

[Brian Williams · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a good story (and could have been an exceptionally good story) with some interesting and well defined characters, but it was buried in 423 pages. It was way too long, by about 150 pages. This excess length dragged down the pace, it was like a long running soap opera without the drama. Note to author and editor: tighten it up. (I alomost gave up at page 200 it was so slow and boring).

It was a mystery to me why the boyfriend of the main character who was at the centre of the campaign for same-sex couples at the prom made such a brief appearance. It was only at page 300 of the book that readers got to meet him and it was a very short meeting. What was the author thinking? On the other hand, there were several marginal characters who got far too much space.

All in all, a good story but the story telling was poorly executed.

[Sally Ross · Rating 3 out of 5]

I figured everything out way too soon, but I'd give it 2 1/2 stars if I could, so I'm being a bit kind. I really liked Winston, and when I reached the end of the book, I wanted it to go on for at least one more chapter.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Canadian Author.
Fast-paced.

[Shedrick]

This book was an excellent read! I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Way too predictable.

[Vance · Rating 5 out of 5]

A sequel that I think might be better than the original book. I particularly like how I was thrown off track as to "whodunnit" - or what the actual crimes actually were.