Death in a Darkening Mist, by Iona Whishaw. Pub 2017
This is the second book in the Lane Winslow series of murder mysteries, set in the Nelson/Kaslo area of BC. So as not to give too much away, I will say that this one was a good as the first, well written and with enough twists and turns and glimpses and maybes to keep the reader page-turning right through to the end. Slow-reader me was able to finish this book in just a day. While not on par with Sayers or Christie in terms of complexity, style, or language, I would put Whishaw in the same excellent category as Louise Penny for compelling stories and characters, as well as excellent mysteries.
The only slight quibble with this book (and likely the remaining in the series) is that they are very definitely a series, requiring that one has to read them in order to understand the backstory or indeed the larger stories, especially the relationships. While some elements are briefly retold, many are not, and so the neighbours with hurt feelings over “the incident in the summer” are lost to someone who hasn’t recently read A Killer in King’s Cove.
This is indeed just a slight quibble, well overcome by the gripping story and characters. Since the books are easy to read, I look forward to continuing on with the series and the excruciatingly slow pace of the romance between Lane Winslow and Inspector Darling. They are infuriatingly civil, tantalizingly close to falling into each others arms but always interrupted by either one or the other’s fears, or yet another murder.
I may even get another in on this year’s reading list…
Fate: send to a friend.
rclr 