FOUR BULLETS, FOUR WITNESSES, FOUR LIARS

On April 26th, 1988, a man was shot and killed in a remote cabin in rural Ontario.

Four witnesses were questioned by the police. Each one told a different story. Worse, they continued to change their stories, repeatedly contradicting not only each other, but also themselves. Ultimately, a woman named Mae McEachern was charged with murder. But what really happened that night?

In this scintillating true crime novel, Barrie uses the trial transcripts, newspaper articles, and his own memories to piece together the story of who the victim was, who the witnesses were, and how the murder came to pass. He details the gripping courtroom drama of the murder trial, where Mae’s innocence was judged by a jury of her peers.

Introduction

Readers often face challenges when choosing their next read. Which of the many books available warrants our time? We have our checklist that the prospective book should fulfil. 

I first encountered Four Bullets, Four Witnesses, Four Liars by Brian Barrie late last year while browsing newly published books at the Ginger Press Bookstore. I realized that it would make a great Christmas present for my wife Emily. She enjoys murder mysteries, and the true crime genre and local connection sounded promising. It is nice when serendipity provides not only an easy gift but also a quality reading experience.

Early in January, I started thumbing through the Sarawak Saga as I teasingly called it. I read the gracious and knowledgeable Foreword by renowned lawyer Brian Greenspan, the brief Acknowledgements and Introduction and I was conscious that the structure and process of the book had been carefully laid out, not only demonstrating the skill of the writer, but promising a story well told. And then, in the Prologue.

“Jimmy Strutton was shot and killed in the early hours of the morning on April 26, 1988. In the isolated rural cabin that he rented in Sarawak, eleven kilometres outside the town of Owen Sound, he was shot three times in the head and once in the chest.”

The following paragraph introduced the main suspects and concluded, “Each was questioned. Each told a wildly different story.” I was hooked. Brian Barrie’s book was now at the top of my ‘must read’ pile and I quickly devoured it, enjoying the pace, storytelling, legal knowledge and local content. I realized that I wanted to recommend it as a title for this year’s Grey County Reads contest. 

Plot Summary

Four Bullets, Four Witnesses, Four Liars: The True Story of a Murder and the Trial That Followed has a unique writing technique. Author Brian Barrie, a retired lawyer, has created a hybrid true-crime novel in style and structure. 

Brian Barrie’s legal talent and prowess is evident as he skillfully walks the reader through the real-life processes involved in defending a murder case from the initial interviews and meeting with the accused through the actual court case until the dramatic conclusion and legal decisions. This is what the reader expects in a true crime narrative. What makes this most interesting is that this action is the second part of Barrie’s book.

The book's first half is a compelling novel that introduces the reader to the main characters and helps us understand them as we try to decipher the whodunnit before us. A novel can be described as a fictitious prose narrative typically presenting characters with some degree of realism. Barrie proves himself a writer of some craft as he blurs the actual characters with his fictionalized stand-ins and encourages us to read into them the possible purposes and motives that lead them to act the way they do on a tragic night in Sarawak Township. 

Interspersed in the first half are single pages revealing the statements from the witnesses. The continuously changing details make this exquisite foreshadowing all the more intriguing.

Barrie deftly deploys his writing strategy to entice the reader into his story as he explains the people and their complicated lives. We become sympathetic allies, almost the way jurors might be conditioned through a skilled lawyer’s presentation. We want to understand not only WHAT happened that fateful April 26th night but WHY it happened. Then in the book's second part, we follow, transfixed with the legal manoeuvres of the crown, the defence and the Judge himself, as we try to discern whether justice prevails.

Character Analysis

Four Bullets, Four Witnesses, Four Liars has two main sets of characters. In the book's first part, while Jimmy Strutton and the four witnesses interact with a few other people, the focus is on the five characters and how the situations interweave and lead to Jimmy’s death. The book's second part focuses on the legal defence case that Brian Barrie and Julia Morneau undertook for Mae McEachern. As readers, we discover how the four witnesses comport themselves through the judicial process and learn how the case is presented both by the defence and by Ken Rae, the Crown attorney and how Judge O’Driscoll rules as the case is presented to the jury.

Jimmy Strutton is much more than the dead body in a game of Clue. Barrie gives Jimmy a researched back story that helps us understand the complexities of his life, living in poverty, struggling with alcohol use and being challenged by mental health concerns. Jimmy is 31 and has a hard life, which he takes out on everything he touches, including nearby dogs. Jimmy is not the most likeable character, but Barrie tries to show us how the other characters become entrapped in living with Jimmy Strutton because his promises of better days seduce them. 

Mae McEachern comes across as a supporting character in her own life. A woman that many have marginalized throughout her 38 years, she is aspirational in her desire to do better for herself and for those she loves. She wrestles with how polite society sees her and yearns for their acceptance. Finding a place in the small village church and singing in the choir bring her happiness and contentment. Nothing means more to her than family, and Mae longs to be the mother, if not to her own children, than to the lost and sad collection of young friends she strives to help.

Paige Stephenson is a young teen, young for fifteen, home-schooled, sheltered and desperate to escape a complicated home situation; she is infatuated with everything that isn’t what she has previously experienced in her sheltered home life. Short on experiences, she throws herself headlong into the world, but with little resources, she is dependent on Mae’s help and support.

One would surmise that Matthew Eaton, at twenty-two, would be ready to begin life as an adult, but instead, he is always ready for others to solve his problems. He approaches every situation lost in the moment, searching for some mystic purpose and boldly rushing onwards. As Paige’s cousin, he tries to help her, but often he winds up making things worse.

Daisy Mole, at fifty-six, is a true matriarch and is always ready to help her daughter, Mae. She watches Mae navigate her challenging life with Jimmy Strutton and probably rues the “lucky day” they met at the bingo hall. Daisy will do what a mother has to do to aid her child.

Upon meeting the four witnesses, the reader is soon rivetted with their entwined lives and stories as Barrie brings us to the night Jimmy is murdered.

Theme Analysis

When I describe the book as two parts, I am not adequately sharing the detail and structure of this fascinating work that Brian Barrie has crafted. The book includes a foreword by Brian Greenspan, acknowledgements, an introduction, a prologue, all preceding part 1: The Back Story - A Shooting in Sarawak. Then following part 2: The Trial, there is an epilogue, an author’s afterword, a comment on Truth and Fiction, and finally, notes on the setting. It is a testament to Brian Barrie’s commitment to quality research and his desire to share his account as best as he can. For the reader, the care and detail work to sell the story. We want to immerse ourselves and stay within the pages as long as possible.

In the Author’s Afterword, Barrie writes,

“Once a lawyer acquires this personal courage, it secures the freedom to realize that there is some good in every human and that criminal prosecutions have more to do with the transgression of societal rules by those less fortunate than the rule-makers - those whose conduct and choices are often compromised by poverty, emotional deprivation, mental illness, a deficient education, addiction, or the lack of a nurturing upbringing. The wealthy who transgress are often protected by their accountants and high-priced lawyers. The poor often have only the protection of legal aid or pro-bono lawyers with the courage of personal conviction.”

Barrie’s statement at the end of the book is a succinct summation of the main themes of his elegant and satisfying book. Barrie writes with compassion and sympathy and helps us walk a few feet in the shoes of his four witnesses, four liars. 

But Brian Barrie is a lawyer, through and through. As we read, he cautions us to ponder whether justice was served and challenges us to look at the situation from various perspectives, including the family of Jimmy Sutton. This effort and introspection make his narrative all the better.

Relevance for Today

Four Bullets, Four Witnesses, Four Liars engages the reader in a path of discovery. We are in pursuit of what happened the night that Jimmy Strutton died. We want to reveal his murderer. We discover so much more. Brian Barrie shows us sadness and desperation just a few kilometres away from the “town of Owen Sound,” and he is right about the size of our community and the isolation that exists here. People often are forced to make difficult decisions, especially when help may seem too far away. Perhaps the size of the community does not matter.

As readers, in our post-pandemic world, this seems even more frightening and raw because we have all experienced it. How would we respond, trapped in a dangerous situation where our lives were threatened?

It is interesting to look at the 35-year-old court case with modern eyes. As Brian Barrie offers at the end of the book, our understanding of domestic issues has changed so much in the intervening years. The courts may examine things with more empathy and understanding than previously. 

The true-crime story is captivating, but it is much more than just a weekend comfort. It has an immediacy and value for anyone wanting to enjoy a well-written local narrative that shines a light on our criminal justice system and helps us understand how people get into situations that require legal intervention.

Summary

Why am I championing Four Bullets, Four Witnesses, Four Liars: The True Story of a Murder and the Trial That Followed by Brian Barrie as the book that should be selected for Grey County Reads in 2024?

• Because it is a skillfully written, nuanced book that deftly brings the reader into the world of true-crime. 
• Because it is a narrative that challenges the reader to solve a mystery and examine the meaning of justice.
• Because it is carefully researched and presented with grace and compassion. 

And lastly, I encourage you to read Four Bullets. We’ve celebrated many books over the years. Here is your opportunity to choose the worthy words of a local writer. This is your chance to decide the verdict. We await your decision.

Thank you for spending this time with me. I hope that I have encouraged you to do the same with Four Bullets, Four Witnesses, Four Liars: The True Story of a Murder and the Trial That Followed by Brian Barrie.