A Match Made for Murder

by Iona Whishaw

It’s November 1949. Lane Winslow and her new husband, Frederick Darling, are on their honeymoon in Tucson, Arizona—a long way from their small-town home in Nelson, British Columbia where Darling is a police inspector. They’re staying at the swanky Santa Cruz Inn, enjoying the sunshine and a bit of socializing with other couples.

Then there’s a murder at their inn. Another guest, a wealthy man, is shot in bright daylight by an unseen gunman, and Lane is second on the scene. Though she and Darling try to distance themselves from the investigation—they’re on vacation, after all—they keep getting pulled in. Lane empathizes with several other women who are affected by the murder, and Darling’s past history with the Tucson assistant police chief keeps him involved as well.  

Meanwhile, there’s a death back home in Nelson as well. Darling’s second-in-command, Sergeant Ames, is in charge of a murder investigation for the first time. He’s perturbed when the young woman he’s hoping to see more of seems to be connected to the crime. And he has to deal with racist attitudes confronting the young Black police constable he’s supervising.

Both story lines unfold in parallel, with twists and discoveries complicating each investigation as the protagonists confront danger and search for answers.

This book is seventh in the Lane Winslow series. Lane is a capable and independent-minded woman who was a British spy during WWII, parachuting behind enemy lines and carrying out dangerous assignments. But after the war she wanted a fresh start in life, so moved to the tiny hamlet of King’s Cove in rural British Columbia. There she’s made friends and has fallen in love. But danger crops up even in that remote town; in each book in the series she has confronted danger and helped solve a murder, mainly by coping coolheadedly with circumstances as they arise.

Lane Winslow has been compared to  Maisie Dobbs and Bess Crawford, two other brave female protagonists in 1940s-era crime series, respectively written by Jacqueline Winspear and Charles Todd. Readers who have enjoyed those series will like this one as well.

Iona Whishaw was born in Kimberly B.C. in 1948, to British parents who immigrated to Canada after WWII. Her maternal grandfather was a British spy in both world wars, and her mother, who spoke seven languages, was also involved in espionage during the war. Whishaw’s father was a geologist; his work, and her mother’s adventuresome nature, led the family to relocate several times to places in Mexico and Central America as well as the US.  

Whishaw attended Antioch College in Ohio, graduating with a degree in history and education . She became a teacher, ultimately becoming a school principal in Vancouver.  In 2010 the YWCA named her a Woman of Distinction in Education, and in 2012 she won an award as one of Canada's Outstanding Principals. 

In her forties, while still teaching, she completed a Masters degree in creative writing from the University of British Columbia. She subsequently published some short fiction and poetry as well as a children’s book. A meeting with mystery writer P.D. James in Vancouver inspired her to follow her dream of writing a mystery novel. “Almost from that moment, I thought dammit, I can do this.”

She was still working when she began writing her first novel, rising at 5:30 a.m. each day and writing 400 words while her brain was “fresh.” In 2014 she retired from teaching and completed that novel, originally self-publishing it in 2015 under the title Dead in the Water. It was later renamed A Killer in King’s Cove when publisher Touchwood Editions picked up the series. Whishaw patterned the character of Lane Winslow on her mother, and based the fictional King’s Cove setting on a tiny BC community where she lived as a child.

Whishaw has been prolific since then. A Lethal Lesson, the eighth novel in the Lane Winslow series, is due to be published in April 2021. She and her husband, artist Terry Miller, live in Vancouver. They have one son and two grandsons.

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