Book Review: Death in A Darkening Mist by Iona Whishaw (Lane Winslow Mysteries #2)

Official Synopsis from Goodreads: On a snowy day in December 1946, Lane Winslow—a former British intelligence agent who’s escaped to the rural Canadian community of King’s Cove in pursuit of a tranquil life—is introduced to the local hot springs. While there she overhears nearby patrons speaking Russian. When one of those patrons is found dead in the change room, Lane’s linguistic and intelligence experience is of immeasurable value to the local police force in solving the murder.The investigation points to the Soviet Union, where Stalin’s purges are eliminating enemies, and the reach of Stalin’s agent snakes all the way into a harmless Doukhobor community. Winslow’s complicated relationship with the local police inspector, Darling, is intensified by the perils of the case—and by the discovery of her own father’s death during the war.

The case comes to a frantic and shocking end with a perilous nighttime journey along treacherous snow-covered roads.

Genre: Historical Mystery
Setting: 1946 British Columbia

***I received a copy of Death in A Darkening Mist from the publisher, TouchWood Editions ***

*** this post contains affiliate links ***

Review: Enjoyable and worth reading! Death in A Darkening Mist by Iona Whishaw is the second book in the Lane Winslow Mystery series, which takes place in British Columbia after WWII. Our heroine is Lane, a woman who has survived the war but still has a few secrets for the reader to figure out.

I read this entry immediately after finishing book one, A Killer in King’s Cove, and while I didn’t enjoy this one as much as I loved book one, Death in A Darkening Mist still held my interest and I liked trying to figure out the mystery of whodunit.

The main mystery here involves the murder of a Russian man staying with the Doukhobors, a local peaceful Russian community, and I believe this was the first time I had read anything about the Doukhobors. I found this lifestyle interesting, and loved learning something new while I read this book! As in the first book, Lane comes across the dead body, and as she also speaks Russian, she helps Inspector Darling and his sidekick, Constable Ames, with translation.

The relationships between Darling, Ames, and Lane, again shine here, and I just loved all of their interactions with each other. I get a real sense of comraderie and care towards each other, and I hope these characters will continue on in this vein in future books.

“You could be giving us the plot of a spy novel. Surely all that international intrigue cannot possibly be going on in our tiny and very unremarkable corner of the world!” cried Eleanor. Her expression hovered between incredulity and delight.

In terms of the mystery, I didn’t find it as page-turning as in the first book, and there was a side plot into banking that I found a bit tedious and obvious, but really that was just a minor issue I had as the characters are as enjoyable here as they were in the first book. The synopsis mentions “treacherous snow-covered roads” and boy are there! They are constantly traveling a very dangerous stretch of road in this book, and I really did feel some anxiety for the characters as they kept driving this.

While I did enjoy Death in A Darkening Mist, I didn’t love it as much as book one, but I definitely recommend this series and can’t wait to read more of it! I think this is a series that will continue to get better as it goes along, and the characters really are great fun.

Bottom Line: The characters of Lane, Darling, and Ames really shine, even if the mystery was a bit unbelievable.

LINKS ***the Amazon link is an affiliate link which means I receive a small commission if you click the link and make a purchase***

Amazon
Goodreads
Author Website
My review of A Killer in King’s Cove