Framed in fire
Shortlisted for the Crime Writers of Canada
Whodunit Award for Best Traditional Mystery
It’s early spring 1948 and Lane arrives in New Denver to find that her friend, Peter Barisoff, is not at home. Instead, in a nearby meadow, she encounters Tom, an Indigenous man in search of his ancestral lands. Lane is intrigued. Unfortunately, once Peter returns home, the day takes a gloomy turn when the trio uncovers human remains next to Peter’s garden, and Lane must tell her husband, Inspector Darling, that she’s inadvertently stumbled into his professional domain—again.
Back in Nelson, the Vitalis, Lane and Darling’s favourite restaurateurs, are victims of arson. Constable Terrell’s investigation suggests prejudice as a motive, and the case quickly escalates, as the Vitalis receive increasingly threatening notes of warning. Meanwhile, Sergeant Ames works a robbery while alienating Tina Van Eyck in his personal time, and a swirling rumour sets the entire station on edge and prompts an RCMP investigation into Darling’s integrity.
Amid the local bustle series readers have come to love, Framed in Fire is bound up in difficult questions of community and belonging, and the knowledge that trusted neighbours can sometimes be as sinister as a stranger in the dark.
“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 and Waiting for a Star to Fall
“Framed in Fire is No. 9 in this series, a point where many authors begin to flag but not Whishaw. . . Definitely one of Whishaw’s best.” —Globe & Mail
“This instalment in Iona Whishaw’s long-running Lane Winslow series draws readers in with wistful observations about what home means to different people and cultures. 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. Framed in Fire is one heck of a satisfying small-town caper.” —Apple Books
“The suspense will keep you reading long past bedtime, and despite the heavy topics explored in the book, the complex and quirky characters lighten the load. This was another delightful read in the Lane Winslow series and my favourite thus far.” —Historical Novel Society
“Let’s face it! Iona Whishaw is a good writer – and has been so for nine mystery novels set in the Kootenays over the past few years. The narratives of her novels are easy to follow, and though her plots are often intricate, her language and characters are never obscure. Certainly, she keeps us guessing, but in the end we are always given the answers and end up satisfied as readers.” —Boundary Creek Times
