Review: The Cost of a Hostage

It’s always a good day when I can spend the entirety of it reading a new Lane Winslow mystery. The Cost of a Hostage is the latest - and twelfth! - installment in Iona Whishaw’s (amazing) historical mystery series. I adored this book!

Here’s the book’s description:

It’s a slow August morning in King’s Cove. Lane has a book to read and a lawn that needs mowing. At the Nelson Police Station her husband, Inspector Darling, and his team are tidying their desks during a rare lull. Then Lane receives a call with news that Darling’s brother Bob has gone missing from a mining camp in Mexico and the police station is visited by the frantic mother of a boy kidnapped from his bedroom.

From bustling Mexico City, through the desert and into the mountain range beyond, Darling and Lane’s search for Bob puts them out of the realm of the law and at the mercy of a local bandido. Meanwhile Lane is certain she’s recognized someone from her past she’d rather forget.

Back in the Kootenays, both kidnapper and kid turn up across the lake in Creston and it appears to be case closed—until a body is found mangled in the paddlewheel of a ferry boat. Plans for Ames’s wedding are taking shape, and Terrell’s favourite soon-to-be police officer April has a chance to prove her mettle. The latest Winslow mystery questions the roles of men and women, husbands and wives, and of course a certain police inspector and King’s Cove’s resident sleuth.

I was describing the series to someone the other day, which is always tricky because I just want to gush about it which turns into babbling nonsense sometimes! I just love them so much. But here’s what I (try to) say to those who have yet to pick up this series: it’s a cozy, smart mystery series that always has two cases going on at once and it’s never unbalanced or confusing. Lane did some mysterious work during the war but now lives in a tiny town in BC. And in that town are the most wonderful characters who you’ll absolutely fall in love with and you’ll be sad when they don’t pop up in the story. I never know how the mysteries are going to wrap up and I always learn a little something new about Canadian history. They’re just so, so, SO very enjoyable and I cannot recommend them enough.

So now that I’ve given you the reason why you should read these books if you haven’t already, I’ll get into what this latest book is all about!

Lane’s past plays a part in this story and I wonder if that’s what spurred the idea of a prequel (coming this fall! I’m so excited!). Readers have learned more about what she did during the war over the course of twelve books, but there are still some purposeful gaps. Lane wasn’t allowed to talk about her war activities because she signed the Official Secrets Act. She wasn’t alone, either. So many (real) people had to sign it, swearing they’d never speak of what they did during the war. Many of them never did, even decades later. It’s fascinating, really. This was the only part of the book that I felt like I was one step ahead of Lane and I was urging her to put two and two together before it was too late.

There are only so many murders that can involve King’s Cove, where Lane and Inspector Darling live, so I like that Winslow had the couple travel to Mexico to solve one of the mysteries in the book. It was also delightful to have Ames and Terrell work together on the kidnapping case in Nelson, particularly as Ames had to be the “boss” while Darling was away. Having Lane in another country also allowed Whishaw to explore more history and what it would have been like to visit or live in Mexico at that time.

There were two threads throughout the story that had nothing to do with any of the disappearances that I appreciated seeing. Darling was struggling with the views on women at this time. So many men told him that he absolutely must put his foot down and Mexico was no place for a woman. They’re delicate, sensitive creatures and he’s the boss! He knows, of course, that Lane is anything but delicate and could probably handle herself much better in many situations that he would. He sees her as an equal, a partner, even while society is trying to force him to see that he’s the man and she’s just the little lady who needs his guidance to survive the big, bad world. The men at the police department are also dealing with something similar as April steps in to help at the front desk while their regular officer is off on medical leave. Why shouldn’t a woman be a police officer? They all know women can do these things but they’re being told by other men and society at large that they can’t. It’s a tricky spot and I liked that Whishaw included it in her story. What she also featured, which is somewhat related in terms of stereotypes and society, is how Terrell is treated. He’s a Black police officer in quite a small, conservative town. He gets a lot of comments thrown his way, as you’d expect, though Whishaw doesn’t use any extreme language or names that you know he actually would have heard at that time. It’s just another layer to this series that makes the reader think about how everyone would have been treated in this time period and what life would have been like for them.

The Cost of a Hostage was an immensely enjoyable read. Yes, I’ve loved all of Iona Whishaw’s books featuring the fabulous Lane Winslow, but this one was especially good. I never wanted to put it down and I was so sad when it was over! I’m thrilled I don’t have to wait as long for the next Lane book and can’t wait to dive into the prequel when it’s published later this year.

*An egalley of this novel was provided by the publisher, Touchwood Editions, in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*