Convicted murderer Colin Thatcher, shown during a visit to the Saskatchewan legislative building in 2008, says Saskatchewan's law against profiting from crime doesn't apply to revenue from his new book. (CBC)

Convicted killer Colin Thatcher doesn't think a new Saskatchewan law that is intended to stop criminals from making money from their crime stories should apply to his new book.

The government rushed the legislation through in May, prompted by the public debate that erupted after word that Thatcher's book Final Appeal: Anatomy of a Frame would hit store shelves this fall.

Thatcher says his book is different because it doesn't talk about the 1983 murder of his ex-wife, JoAnn Wilson.

"The legislation pertains to the recounting and recollections of a crime and this book does not contain any recollections or recounting of a crime, either directly or indirectly," Thatcher told The Canadian Press in an interview.

"This is not a Son of Sam book, there is no recounting, there is no story of recollections of a crime."

It was 1984 when Thatcher, the son of former Saskatchewan premier Ross Thatcher, was convicted of first-degree murder in Wilson's brutal death. She was bludgeoned and shot in the garage of her Regina home, just steps away from the Saskatchewan legislature.

The former provincial cabinet minister spent 22 years behind bars.

Testimony recalled

The book re-examines witness testimony, talks about Thatcher's whereabouts when the slaying took place and delves into the authenticity of a credit-card receipt found near the murder scene with Thatcher's signature on it.

"The book doesn't even start until after I'm arrested, which is 15 months after the murder," he said.

"What the book is, is it's a story of what amounts to a 20-year odyssey through the system, through the various aspects of the justice system."

But critics say the 380-page book lacks credibility.

Regina lawyer Garrett Wilson, who wrote his own book on the Thatcher trial called Deny, Deny, Deny, has called Thatcher's allegations "frivolous and nonsense and hardly new."

Saskatchewan Justice Minister Don Morgan says the process of seizing any profits from Thatcher's book has already begun. Both Thatcher and his publisher are aware of the province's intentions, he said.

Morgan acknowledged this week that provincial officials have not yet read the book, but he believes the law will apply.

"We drafted the legislation with that in mind and we'll look at the book to see whether it lands where we expect it will," said Morgan. "Justice officials will acquire a copy of it and no doubt look very carefully and as quickly as they can."

This is the first time that Saskatchewan has taken action under the proceeds-of-crime legislation. The law would allow the government to seize profits and give them to victims of the crime or to a victims' support fund.

Thatcher's publisher, Toronto's ECW Press, says it will wait to see what action the province takes before deciding if there will be a challenge to the legislation, either by the publishing company or by Thatcher.

If the province does collects the profits, Thatcher believes that under the legislation the money would go to the three children he had with Wilson. But he says that's not why he put pen to paper.

"I didn't write the book for that particular purpose (of profit)," he says. "I think when they (officials) read the book, I think that they'll agree that this book falls outside that legislation."