Description: "Back home in the Kootenays after her Arizona honeymoon, Lane offers her assistance when neither the outgoing teacher, Rose, nor her replacement, Wendy, show up at the local schoolhouse one blizzardy Monday in December. But when she finds the teachers' cottage ransacked with Rose unconscious and bleeding, and Wendy missing, Lane delivers Rose to the hospital in Nelson and turns the case over to her exasperated husband, Inspector Darling, and his capable colleagues, Sergeant Ames and Constable Terrell. Never one to leave a post unmanned, Lane enlists as substitute teacher for the final two weeks before the Christmas holidays, during which time she discovers a threatening note in the teachers' desk and a revolver in the supply cupboard. But these clues only convolute the case further. Who has been tormenting these women, and where has Wendy gone? Meanwhile, Darling finds the body of a hit-and-run victim in a snowbank miles outside of Nelson, the residents of King's Cove are preoccupied by the possibility of a new neighbour, and Sergeant Ames is as confused as ever by the inimitable Tina Van Eyck."--
Brief description:
Iona Whishaw is the bestselling author of the Lane Winslow Mysteries. She is the winner of a Bony Blithe Light Mystery Award, was a finalist for a BC and Yukon Book Prize, and has twice been nominated for a Left Coast Crime Award. The heroine of her series, Lane Winslow, was inspired by Iona's mother who, like her father before her, was a wartime spy. Born in the Canadian Kootenays, Iona spent many years in Mexico, Nicaragua, and the US before settling into Vancouver, BC where she now lives with her husband, Terry. Throughout her life she has worked as a youth worker, social worker, teacher, and award-winning high school principal, eventually completing her master's in creative writing from the University of British Columbia.
Review Quotes:
Praise for A Lethal Lesson (#8)
An Indigo Top 10 Best Mystery of 2021
A Globe and Mail Bestseller and #1 Bestselling New Release in Canada
Finalist for the Bill Duthie Booksellers' Choice Award
"Iona Whishaw's writing is worthy of taking its place alongside the works of Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers. This deftly crafted and briskly paced murder mystery vividly evokes the atmosphere of a small community gripped by the sudden disappearance of two schoolteachers in the snows of a Canadian winter." --Fiona Valpy, bestselling author of The Dressmaker's Gift
"A winsome cozy set in the Kootenays in 1947 . . . it's the perfect series for fans of Miss Fisher and Maisie Dobbs." --Zoomer Magazine
"There are days when nothing suits a reader like a good old-fashioned classic cozy with a puzzle plot, a country setting and some nice slight characters. When that urge strikes, Iona Whishaw's delightful B.C. series featuring Lane Winslow and, now, husband, Inspector Darling of the King's Cove constabulary, are just the ticket. . . A really good book in a terrific series." --Globe and Mail
"All of Whishaw's novels have a modern sensibility, a sense of justice, and a mixture of romance and community angst. Their handling of the texture of the late 1940s' time period feels precise and carefully researched." --Castlegar News
"Well plotted and laced with dry wit, Lane's adventures are entirely satisfying summer reading." --Shelf Awareness
"Whishaw nicely captures the rhythms and dynamics of small-town life while maintaining suspense. Maisie Dobbs and Phryne Fisher fans will be pleased." --Publishers Weekly
"Her use of dialogue is superb as she offers insights into small-town northern Canada after World War Two along with, at times, emotional pain and memories still unresolved." --Historical Novel Society
Praise for the Lane Winslow Mysteries
Winner of the 2021 Bony Blithe Light Mystery Award for A Match Made for Murder (#7)
Finalist for the Left Coast Crime "Lefty" Awards (2019, 2024) Finalist for the Canadian Crime Writers of Canada Awards (2023, 2024) Finalist for the Bill Duthie Booksellers' Choice Award (2022) Loan Stars Top 10 Pick (2017, 2020, 2022)"Iona Whishaw's Lane Winslow series is a real treat. With a quaint cast of characters and the feel of Louise Penny's Three Pines, the independence and quick wit of Kerry Greenwood's Phryne Fisher and the intelligence of Jacqueline Winspear's Maisie Dobbs, this mystery series has it all!" --Murder by the Book, Texas
"Highly entertaining . . . fans and newcomers alike will find lots to love." --Publishers Weekly, STARRED review
"Relentlessly exciting from start to finish." --Kirkus Reviews
"Well plotted and laced with dry wit, Lane's adventures are entirely satisfying summer reading." --Shelf Awareness
"Whishaw goes all out on the historical bits and it's all great fun." --Globe and Mail
"The setting is fresh and the cast endearing." --CrimeReads
"Brave, bold and brilliant, Lane Winslow is a force to be reckoned with." --Toronto Star
"As always, Whishaw's characters are the heart of the whodunit--we adored spending time with Lane and her entourage, from the wisecracking Inspector Darling to his quirky but highly skilled crew of constables." --Apple Books
"Reliable bestsellers." --Quill & Quire
"It's the perfect series for fans of Miss Fisher and Maisie Dobbs." --Zoomer Magazine
"Very charming and delightful. If you like Louise Penny's novels, this is right up your street." --CBC Ontario Morning
"It Begins in Betrayal has a wonderfully complex plot with threads that eventually resolve most satisfactorily." --Maureen Jennings, author of the Murdoch Mysteries series
"Iona Whishaw's writing is worthy of taking its place alongside the works of Agatha Christie and Dorothy L Sayers. . . deftly crafted and briskly paced." --Fiona Valpy, author of The Dressmaker's Gift
"Another fantastic entry in the unique and compelling Lane Winslow series!" --Anna Lee Huber, author of the Lady Darby Mysteries
"An engaging, superbly crafted page turner of a mystery." --Alan Hlad, international and USA Today bestselling author of The Long Flight Home
"I absolutely love the modern sensibility of these novels, of their feminism, sense of justice, their anti-racism, their progressiveness, which somehow never seems out of place in a tiny BC hamlet in 1948." --Kerry Clare, author of Mitzi Bytes, Waiting for a Star to Fall, and Asking for a Friend
"What a delight! . . . crafted with such charming finesse that readers will fall in love as I did." --Genevieve Graham, #1 USA Today bestselling author of Bluebird
"Stellar . . . " --Eliza Knight, USA Today bestselling author of Starring Adele Astaire
"Whishaw is a master of the historical mystery." --Sam Wiebe, award-winning author of Sunset and Jericho and Hell and Gone
"Richly conjured and Whishaw's trademark examination of the mores of the day add depth and enjoyment to another deftly plotted puzzler . . . this series just keeps getting better!" --Catriona McPherson, award-winning author of the Dandy Gilver series
"An intriguing mix of character, plot, time, and place. Highly recommended." --Ian Hamilton, author of the bestselling Ava Lee novels
"Iona Whishaw has again raised the bar . . . This is seriously good storytelling." --Don Graves, Canadian Mystery Reviews
"A compelling series that combines a cozy setting, spy intrigue storylines, and police procedural elements--not an easy task, but one that Whishaw pulls off." --Reviewing the Evidence
"An enthralling mystery." --Historical Novel Society
"A simply riveting read by a master of the genre." --Wisconsin Bookwatch
"A series that's guaranteed to please." --Mercer Island Books, Washington
"Full of history, mystery, and a glorious BC setting . . . a wonderful series." --Sleuth of Baker Street, Ontario
"Each book in the series is an impressive combination of mystery, history, and a little bit of romance." --Lethbridge Herald