I’ve had such an interesting spring and summer! My latest Lane Winslow Mystery, A Lethal Lesson, a book full of wintry peril, came out into a sunny and warming April, and since then I have made more than thirty visits with libraries, writing groups, book clubs, and one gloriously live literary festival on the beautiful Sunshine Coast. My busy schedule culminated with my brilliant visit with Ann Cleeves, who was launching the second book in her Two River’s series, The Heron’s Cry. Here is where you can see my wonderful conversation with Ann Cleeves, sponsored by Munro’s Books in Victoria here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4weR-GHZsU
I have met probably hundreds of readers and answered scores of really interesting questions, and I find myself, in the momentary calm of October, more grateful than ever to all the readers of my books. Readers spur me on, remind me that they are waiting to hear more about their favourite characters. My many conversations with readers stimulate wonderful ideas, readers have genuinely interesting and engaging questions. I’ve never been asked ‘where do you get your ideas?’ and maybe it’s just a myth that authors get asked that, but I have been asked how living through a major historical event like the pandemic has informed how I write about the second or first world wars, I have been asked why heroines in books always have to be beautiful…these are challenging and important questions, and I need to stop and think about them. I am asked about my spy ancestors, and about my mother, who originally inspired the character of Lane Winslow. I have been asked if it is a good idea for Lane to have married Inspector Darling. I have been told that she is inspiringly independent, and in advance of her time, but I remind people that my childhood was full of women like her, all busy overcoming, or indeed, sometimes eve laughing off, the limitations placed on them, in the time-honoured way women have always had to.
I have been asked many times about my writing process, and I am always happy to talk about this, while cautioning that my process is no more right and no more wrong than anyone else’s. But I am excited when I think about the number of people who are writing or contemplating writing, because it is my chosen art form, and I love how ideas work… I mean really work; scuttling about joining each other and weaving themselves into stories and poems.
And now we have arrived at the cover reveal for the next Lane Winslow mystery: Framed In Fire. The discovery of a long-dead man at the edge of the garden of a Doukhobor farmer uncovers the shattering displacement and hidden stories of a seemingly benign, peaceful, and ‘empty’ country, which Lane comes to understand was not empty at all before the arrival of the settlers. Amidst all of this, Lorenzo Vitali, proprietor of Lane and Darling’s beloved eatery, Lorenzo’s Restaurant, is subjected to a violent campaign of harassment by someone who will stop at nothing. But wait, that’s not all. Inspector Darling is under investigation for bribery! I’m not making this up… well, I mean, I did make it up, obviously… and Sergeant Ames finds himself…well, you know what he’s like…and there’s quite a lot of trouble over a toaster…there, I’ve said enough!
You may anticipate bagging your very own copy of Framed in Fire, in April, which in Covid time, will come sooner than you think!
Lane does not need an income, but what about her starting some sort of business. Book store, self-defense classes for women; something to stir up the female population in the area, and, therefore, their husbands, She has not learned the skills of ordinary homemaking, but must have learned all sorts of interesting skills while being a spy. I love the series and feel like a neighbour. With opinions.
I love an opinionated neighbour! These are all great ideas! Now, let me see…what could stir her up to have to teach those skills??
I cannot say when I last enjoyed a series as much as I have been enjoying the Lane WInslow books! I’ve just finished #7 and will start #8 once my friend has finished her copy! And now to find out that there will be a ninth book – fantastic!!!!!
Thank you Sylvia, those are big words indeed…I’m so happy you’ve been enjoying them! I’ll try to keep on trucking!
I am so looking forward to your next book. Lane and Darling are wonderful characters, and of course they should have gotten together. They can show all the readers who apparently seem to need it, how two bright, independent adults can form a partnership that gives each of them room to grow.
Thank you in particular for this…I feel so strongly about the partnership between Lane and Darling, and how they will negotiate the normal life difficulties and differences that even two independent people must ultimately grapple with. I think such partnerships are golden, and I think they have existed in every age.
Iona
I thoroughly enjoy the Lane Winslow mysteries. Lane and Darling make a great couple. Keep the stories coming:)
Thanks Jennifer!
I work every day in the hopes that the stories will keep coming! Your encouragement is much appreciated!
Iona
I am just now rereading Lethal Lesson, after the first read immediately when it came out. The Christmas season called me to enjoy it a second time at an appropriate time of year, despite our record-breaking heat wave in Texas. I have been a faithful fan since the first book, and my talking about them has turned my husband into a fan as well. We have not visited the mainland of BC but have enjoyed a great trip a few years ago to Victoria. A second trip was cancelled due to Covid. Thank you for your time, your research, your careful grammar (a sore point for me with some authors!), your new ideas. I am looking forward to our next adventure! Patrice
Hi Patrice,
Thank you for this kind note. Sigh…the weather! thank you for turning your husband into a fan, and I truly hope that we will all soon be able to travel, and you can come back to BC and visit the interior…the area I write about is stunning and still in many ways has the feel of how it would have been in the forties. And thanks for the grammar comment, I appreciate it. It’s a sore point with me as well. I hope your weather is now normal for the time of year!
Iona
We love your use of Canadian spelling. But you referenced an Americanism using Fifth Grade instead of Grade Five in one of your later books.
Hi Linda and Mitch, thank you so much for this! it’s quite likely I will be all over the place on some of this, so I really appreciate the pointers. I was born in Canada and from the age of 5 to 13 lived in Mexico, and then did all my high school and university in the States, so I’m not at all surprised I fluffed that one. And I taught school in Canada, where I’ve lived for 50 years now!
Iona
I have read all your books and just happened to come across one of them at an out of state library I rarely go to, but then reserved at my own library. I’ve liked them so much I’ve purchased a few too because I couldn’t wait for library copies. I would like to find out more about Lane’s life prior to her life in BC and I’d like to see if Tina marries Sergeant Ames. I like that you show the challenges of deciding to be married and then some of the changes Lane goes through. I like her independent spirit and she cares deeply about others too.
First, Kristin, thank you for liking the books so much! I love to learn that readers are as engaged with these characters as I am, and as puzzled about what the heck Ames is planning! I am toying with at least a partial war-time story, and I have given a little insight into her earlier life in a book I’m writing now. These are all good questions, believe me!
Iona
Dear Iona,
Thank you for your marvellous books. You are a wonderful story teller with murder/mystery thrown in. Will wait patiently for your next Miss Winslow/Mrs. Darling “Framed in Fire”.Just love your characters. Appreciate Large Type& availability of E-Books thru’
my local library, for use on my Kindle. Would love to meet you!!
Thank you so much for your kind words! I’m delighted to learn they are in large print! They are also five books on audio, and I believe by the spring all the books will be on audio.
I’m please that you enjoy the books. That’s exactly why I write them!
Iona
Just happily read my first Lane Winslow mystery. I was referred to you his series by a fellow member of Louise Penny’s Facebook group. Thank you! I intend to binge the series since the pandemic continues.
Thanks Kendra! It’s been a binge-worthy pandemic, to be sure, but I’m so glad you’ve chosen my books as one of your binges!
Iona
I just finished A Killer in Kings Cove. Your next 3 books are on my shelf waiting to be read. Thank you for entertaining this 72 year old retired middle school teacher. You and others have helped to pass my solitary time during this pandemic. The best to you and be well.
Thank you Nancy! I hope you enjoy them! There are more after that, so no rest for the weary!
Just finished “To Track a Traitor “.
Wonderful! Possibly the best yet in the series. I was a bit because I felt the last couple of episodes had been a little formulaic, but this one was just superb.
Well done and onwards’
Thank you for such an enjoyable series of books set in beautiful BC.
I absolutely love the adventures of Lane Winslow! As a high school English teacher, I like nothing better than unwinding and listening to the latest mystery to come her way. I just noticed, however, that Books 7&8 aren’t yet available on Audible. Do you know when the Audible versions will be out?
Are there more of your books (after A Deceptive Devotion) being produced as audio books? Please??
Thank you so much for this series set in my beloved Kootenays! Although born in Manitoba near the end of the war, I grew up in the little village of Kinnaird, B.C., now South Castlegar. And in my 26 years in the West Kootenays, I also lived in Nelson for 5 years, 4 of them at Notre Dame University (1962 – 1966). I know the north shore of the west arm of Kootenay Lake well, and have spent much time up through Kaslo and over to New Denver! I have driven those scary highways lots! Your books took me home again, and I have read all 9 of them, loving every one! And I am cheering for Ames and Tina! So looking forward to book #10!
Thank you for writing. I have bought all your books and just finished #5 in a hurry because one of my eager friends is only one behind me and another one is also waiting.
Little spelling oops on page 348? “current bushes” should be “currant bushes”?
Hoping you will continue the series, as with every new read I am becoming more involved with the characters and especially the landscapes.
Well written,great plots,historic interest
I have listened to the first 6 audio books from our library. The next books are not available on audio at our library. A match made for murder. A lethal lesson.framed in fire. To track a traitor. Is there anywhere else that the audio books are available? I love your books.
Dear Mrs. Iona,
I discovered your wonderful books on ebook via my local library via the app, Libby. I am in a book club, though they rarely listen to me because they like one and done books. But I love series, being a big fan of Maisie Dobbs et al. I am now a huge fan of your Lane Winslow series. Your characters and settings are unique and so enjoyable, and your writing so intelligent. I’ve devoured all 10 of your Lane Winslow books, and would like to know if there will be an 11th. Also being a fan of audio books, I tried the audio version of To Track a Traitor. Your performer did not have enough differentiation between characters, especially women to men. You probably didn’t have any say-so on this, but if you do, it would be nice to have someone of Barbara Rosenblatt’s skill.
Thank you for writing the Lane Winslow series, and I hope there will be many more to come.
From a fan in the Deep South,
Roberta
Just finished A Deceptive Devotion! I think it is perfectly wonderful that they got married, and also that they both respect each other’s independence etc. in their marriage. And also that darling feels protective as men often do. I just love your books and have been recommending them to one and all!!
Dear Ms. Whishaw:
I have read all of your Lane Winslow mysteries and enjoyed every one of them. I am 91 years old and looking forward to your next book to read in Northern Ontario winters.
God bless…..Robert
I have just finished your latest book (To Track a Traitor) and, as usual, thoroughly enjoyed your book. I will now have to wait (impatiently) for your next book. Any hints as to when this may come out?
Luckily you won’t have to wait too long. The next book, Lightning Strikes the Silence, is out on May 7.
https://www.touchwoodeditions.com/book/lightning-strikes-the-silence/
Thrilled to just learn that your latest is coming out May 7! I As will all those I have turned on to this super series. I first found it about a year or so ago and rapidly became a fan, getting through them all in abut 6 months.. It has all that I want in a mystery/spy series-first of all, a protagonist who is a real human being with strengths and intelligence but also fears and who grows with the series. No alcoholic, divorced ex-cop living in a dump for me! Better yet, she is embedded in a beautiful part of Canada in a community of believable people. AND she finds the love of a decent and honorable man who is her match when it comes to solving mysteries. It is now May 4–May 7 and the new book, here I come!
Just blasted through book 11 in the past couple of days. Always happy to see a new book in your series and I think this was one of your best. A Japanese friend I met in university grew up in Greenwood having gone through the sad experience described in your book. I am from Nelson and our family has had a place in Queen’s Bay since the mid-1950s, so it is a special treat to read your stories and contemplate who is who. The “Cabin” was and continues to be a special spot for our summer vacations. I shared this title with a friend whose father and later himself had an eponymous jewellery store in Nelson from the 1960s and it is still there today under new ownership. No doubt my sister, Anne, whom I understand has met you, will be enjoying the book if she has not done so already (I will be sending her an alert shortly!) I can see more stories on the way as April returns and hopefully Ames gets off the pot. By the way, ‘paining’ is missing a “t” and ‘Bill’, I believe, should be ‘Ron’ on page 404! Congratulations on another good read.