Iona Whishaw’s Lightning Strikes the Silence Nominated for 2025 BC & Yukon Book Prize
We're thrilled to announce that Lightning Strikes the Silence: A Lane Winslow Mystery (#11) by Iona Whishaw is a finalist for the 41st Annual BC and Yukon Book Prizes’ Bill Duthie Booksellers’ Choice Award. The award is presented to the best book in terms of public appeal, initiative, design, production, and content. The winners in the eight categories will be announced at the BC and Yukon Book Prizes Gala on Sunday, September 21, 2025, at the University Golf Club in Vancouver. This is Whishaw’s second nomination for the Bill Duthie Booksellers’ Choice Award, having previously been nominated for her 9th book in the series, A Lethal Lesson.
Lightning Strikes the Silence was the #1 bestselling book in British Columbia for 15 straight weeks. At Canadian independent bookstores in 2024 it was the #6 bestselling book from Canadian-owned publishers and the #11 bestselling book for all Canadian titles. The Lane Winslow Mystery series is also a huge hit among booksellers. Windowseat Books in Nanaimo, BC praises the “well-developed characters, rich historical context, and intricate plots,” and Ivy’s Bookshop in Victoria, BC was thrilled that Lightning Strikes the Silence is “another perfect cozy mystery.”
Iona Whishaw will be touring independent bookstores to promote her twelfth book in the series, The Cost of a Hostage, in April and May 2025. Details can be found on her website, ionawhishaw.com.
For more information, please visit bcyukonbookprizes.com.
