Winnipeg Beach is a five-star destination in an alternate universe, and a star-studded death on Lake Winnipeg raises more questions than answers.
Boston author Steve Rhinelander recently released his second book, Death on Lake Winnipeg. The story is a classic “Who dunnit” set in 1940s Winnipeg Beach, but there’s a catch—in this alternate history, Louis Riel’s government became permanent in 1870, and his fictional grandson is now Prime Minister.
“I chose Winnipeg Beach because I think Manitoba has a very interesting history and Louis Riel and the Metis people have a very interesting history,” said Rhinelander. “I wanted to use a detective story as a way to learn more about it.”
Told through the eyes of a Quebecois private detective, Death on Lake Winnipeg is about finding who killed a famous airplane designer in his Winnipeg Beach mansion. Rhinelander describes Winnipeg Beach in the book as a Monte Carlo, complete with casinos, boardwalks, luxury hotels, and the old amusement park. Though the police deem the crime a robbery went wrong, not everyone is so convinced, so they hire classic, hard-boiled detective Samuel de Champlain Le Pelletier to find the truth.
As readers turn the pages of Rhinelander’s second novel, they’ll learn more about the detective and the famous now-dead designer, slowly coming to understand who he was and why someone would want him dead.
“If people like the idea of alternate history, they might like this book,” said Rhinelander. “It’s a picture of what Winnipeg Beach and Manitoba might be like if something in its history had turned out differently.”
Rhinelander’s fascination with Manitoba and Canadian history began when his dad took him camping in northern Ontario as a boy. His first book, Poutine and Gin, is also an alternate history set in Quebec. It follows a series of art thefts investigated by private detective Samuel de Champlain Le Pelleteur.
Rhinelander researched Canadian history ravenously, reading everything and anything he could on the topic. Before publishing Poutine and Gin, Rhinelander was already writing Death on Lake Winnipeg, eager to share his slice of Manitoban history.
“As I learned more about the area, I just found it more and more interesting, and I wanted to learn about it,” he said.
Death on Lake Winnipeg is approximately 350 pages long and was officially released on Aug. 23 of this year. It’s available for purchase on Amazon Canada.
