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Winner of the 2021 Bony Blithe Light Mystery Award
"An intriguing mix of character, plot, time, and place. Highly recommended." -Ian Hamilton, author of the bestselling Ava Lee novels
Lane and Darling's Arizona honeymoon is interrupted by gunshots in the newest instalment in a series Kirkus Reviews calls "relentlessly exciting."
It's November, and Lane and Darling have escaped the chilly autumn in the Kootenays for a honeymoon at the posh and romantic Santa Cruz Inn in sunny Tucson, Arizona. But despite her very best intentions to relax, soon after their arrival Lane's plans to spend the holiday poolside with a good mystery are interrupted by gunfire. One of the hotel's wealthy guests has been shot point blank and Lane is second on the scene.
Though Lane and Darling attempt to distance themselves from the investigation, the longer they stay at the Santa Cruz Inn, the deeper they are drawn into a web of suspects and bystanders, and a collection of seemingly perfect marriages fraught with jealousy and violence. The situation threatens first their honeymoon and then their lives when Lane puts herself directly in the sights of local criminals who will stop at nothing to get what they want.
Back in Nelson, Sergeant Ames has been left in charge of the department during Darling's absence. As he investigates a case of vandalism at the Van Eyck garage, it seems to lead directly to the death of the suspected vandal himself. Working with Constable Terrell, the new recruit, to piece together what happened in this strange and unsettling murder, Ames finds his romantic interest in mechanic Tina Van Eyck creates complications that are more than awkward; they could be deadly.
Fans of Maisie Dobbs and the Kopp sisters will delight in the latest Lane Winslow, a study of matrimony and mirage in the American Southwest.
CHAPTER ONE
November 1947
Lane's first impression was of the whiteness. The mid-afternoon sun, which she had always thought of as golden, bleached everything here to the purity of bones. The endless desert had given way to adobe and wood houses that seemed to lie low away from the sun, and then to the white of the station they were approaching.
Her honeymoon. It was ridiculous and wonderful. A year and a half before, she had arrived at King's Cove, a tiny hamlet an hour outside of the city of Nelson, in the middle of British Columbia, and moved into her beautiful house among her eccentric neighbours with no other object than to lose herself, and her memories, and put the war behind her. The danger of dropping out of airplanes into occupied France carrying weapons and encrypted messages began to seem more and more like a life that had happened to someone else. The misery of her first love affair had been swept away, almost against her own better judgement, by Frederick Darling, inspector of the Nelson Police.
She looked at him now, his dark hair slightly tousled from leaning against the window, and her heart skipped. They'd had a bad start, she had to admit; he had arrested her over the death of a man on her property. He was extraordinarily reserved, not to say impenetrable, but he had come, very slowly and most reluctantly, to accept that she had some skills that were invaluable in some of his other cases. And she in turn had come to appreciate his profound sense of justice, and his philosophical turn of mind, perhaps a product of his surprisingly academic background. She had not expected a degree in literature from a policeman. She wondered if either of them had realized how completely they were falling in love. She smiled. She was pretty sure his sidekick, Sergeant Ames, had. She wouldn't have been surprised to learn it was he who had pointed it out to Darling.
"Not terribly punctual. It's gone two forty-five," she said, consulting her watch. The train screeched, as if protesting at having to slow down, and then stopped and hissed. People began to stand up, st
"An intriguing mix of character, plot, time, and place. Highly recommended." -Ian Hamilton, author of the bestselling Ava Lee novels
Lane and Darling's Arizona honeymoon is interrupted by gunshots in the newest instalment in a series Kirkus Reviews calls "relentlessly exciting."
It's November, and Lane and Darling have escaped the chilly autumn in the Kootenays for a honeymoon at the posh and romantic Santa Cruz Inn in sunny Tucson, Arizona. But despite her very best intentions to relax, soon after their arrival Lane's plans to spend the holiday poolside with a good mystery are interrupted by gunfire. One of the hotel's wealthy guests has been shot point blank and Lane is second on the scene.
Though Lane and Darling attempt to distance themselves from the investigation, the longer they stay at the Santa Cruz Inn, the deeper they are drawn into a web of suspects and bystanders, and a collection of seemingly perfect marriages fraught with jealousy and violence. The situation threatens first their honeymoon and then their lives when Lane puts herself directly in the sights of local criminals who will stop at nothing to get what they want.
Back in Nelson, Sergeant Ames has been left in charge of the department during Darling's absence. As he investigates a case of vandalism at the Van Eyck garage, it seems to lead directly to the death of the suspected vandal himself. Working with Constable Terrell, the new recruit, to piece together what happened in this strange and unsettling murder, Ames finds his romantic interest in mechanic Tina Van Eyck creates complications that are more than awkward; they could be deadly.
Fans of Maisie Dobbs and the Kopp sisters will delight in the latest Lane Winslow, a study of matrimony and mirage in the American Southwest.
CHAPTER ONE
November 1947
Lane's first impression was of the whiteness. The mid-afternoon sun, which she had always thought of as golden, bleached everything here to the purity of bones. The endless desert had given way to adobe and wood houses that seemed to lie low away from the sun, and then to the white of the station they were approaching.
Her honeymoon. It was ridiculous and wonderful. A year and a half before, she had arrived at King's Cove, a tiny hamlet an hour outside of the city of Nelson, in the middle of British Columbia, and moved into her beautiful house among her eccentric neighbours with no other object than to lose herself, and her memories, and put the war behind her. The danger of dropping out of airplanes into occupied France carrying weapons and encrypted messages began to seem more and more like a life that had happened to someone else. The misery of her first love affair had been swept away, almost against her own better judgement, by Frederick Darling, inspector of the Nelson Police.
She looked at him now, his dark hair slightly tousled from leaning against the window, and her heart skipped. They'd had a bad start, she had to admit; he had arrested her over the death of a man on her property. He was extraordinarily reserved, not to say impenetrable, but he had come, very slowly and most reluctantly, to accept that she had some skills that were invaluable in some of his other cases. And she in turn had come to appreciate his profound sense of justice, and his philosophical turn of mind, perhaps a product of his surprisingly academic background. She had not expected a degree in literature from a policeman. She wondered if either of them had realized how completely they were falling in love. She smiled. She was pretty sure his sidekick, Sergeant Ames, had. She wouldn't have been surprised to learn it was he who had pointed it out to Darling.
"Not terribly punctual. It's gone two forty-five," she said, consulting her watch. The train screeched, as if protesting at having to slow down, and then stopped and hissed. People began to stand up, st
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- SeriesLane Winslow Mystery #7