A Killer in King's Cove

 by Iona Whishaw

This book is by a Canadian author.  It is set in Nelson BC just after the second world war.  

A young British woman who worked as a spy during the war has moved to Canada to try to get away from her memories of the war.  Locals are curious about her.  A local young man is pestering her for attention.  There is an American couple that is also a curiosity to the locals.

She has a very grumpy neighbour.  One day she discovers she has no water.  As she is going to go to investigate her grumpy neighbour comes to tell her has no water either and blames it on her.  They go to investigage theit water source and find a body stuffed in a wooden channel.

The police are summoned, no one knows who the dead person is, he isn't a local.  They young woman is arrested temporarily.  The police officer is attracted to the young woman and has trouble believing she could have committed the crime

The police are surprised when a British official arrives and the police find out that both the dead man and the young woman were working as spies and are sworn to secrecy.  The British official tries to force the young woman to return to Britain to work for the government but she refuses.

Eventually it comes out that there was no connection between the two Brits are not connected.  The young man was actually coming to find his birth father.  He had recently discovered he was adoopted and that his mother had put him up for adoption.

We find out that the man's father attacked him, not knowing he was his son and the young suitor disposed of the body.

The book has a curious cast of characters including one "mad" woman who goes around the area with a gun shooting at things.  It was an okay read.