THE CASE OF VALENTINE SHORTIS: A TRUE STORY OF CRIME AND POLITICS IN CANADA. Friedland, Martin L. Toronto, University of Toronto Press, c1986. 324pp, cloth, $24.95, ISBN 0-8020-2606-0. CIP Post-Secondary Reviewed by E. Balpataky Volume 15 Number 2 1987 March Valentine Shortis was a tall, handsome Irishman of good family who had emigrated to Canada in 1893. On March 2, 1895, he fatally wounded three office employees of the Montreal Cotton Company of Valleyfield, Quebec. There followed a sensational and prolonged trial, at the end of which Shortis was condemned to hang on January 3, 1896. After a great deal of political manoeuvring, involving the prime minister and cabinet and the governor general, the sentence was commuted to "imprisonment for life as a criminal lunatic." Shortis served forty-two years in various correctional institutions in Ontario. His story shows the development of the law of insanity in Canada, as well as the handling of the criminally insane between 1896 and 1941. It also reveals a great deal about Canada's political and judicial systems. The truth about Shortis's state of mind and his motive for the killings remains a mystery. This book will be of interest to students of Canadian history and criminal law at the post-secondary level. It will also hold some appeal for adult readers interested in crime and criminals. E. Balpataky, Ingersoll D.C.I., Ingersoll, Ont.