An Icelandic locked room mystery begins with a diplomatic dinner at an art opening, and featuring the Canadian ambassador and his wife hoping to create ties with the local major fishing corporation. As a dangerous storm arrives, one of the guests dies, and there is no question that one of the people there is the murderer. Jane, the Ambassador's wife, seeks answers to this and more personal mysteries, and the web of relationships snarls even tighter than she could ever imagine. Twisty suspense, well plotted with interesting characters. Readers will be left guessing to the very end, as there are so many plausible suspects. For those who enjoy Scandinavian mysteries, especially Yrsa Sigurdardottir.

For as long as I can remember I have had an invisible force pulling me towards Iceland. I am absolutely fascinated by the culture and captivated by its landscapes. Utterly beautiful and inspiring, my number one must see bucket list item.

However as awe inspiring the country may be, this fell a little flat for me. The timeline is a bit hard to read and it’s a bit of a backwards recap on and off throughout. The political situation was hard to follow, but they could be an American hiccup.

Plot was good. Convincing, but a little “done”
A bit of an overly cooked Agatha Christie vibe.

Overall I liked it. Writing was good. Enough to carry a story. Not great.

3.5 ⭐️

I received a complimentary copy from the publisher and all opinions expressed are mine,

This was my first book by the author and it was written on dual timelines. The book is set in a tiny village during dinner where important people have gathered. During the festivities one person ends up date and Jane the wife of the ambassador has to solve the case. Interesting premise, great location and interesting characters. Recommend it,

I was interested in reading this debut novel written by a Canadian who served as First Lady of Iceland for eight years. Unfortunately, I was disappointed because it very much has the hallmarks of a debut.

The novel is set on Heimaey, the only inhabited island of the Westman Islands archipelago off the south coast of Iceland. Kavita Banerjee, the deputy ambassador of Canada, is killed at a dinner party. Everyone present becomes a suspect, including Graeme Shearer, the Canadian ambassador. His wife Jane decides to investigate.

This is described as a locked room mystery because everyone is stranded on the island when a storm prevents the ferry from operating. Some suspense is created in Part II which begins with Chapter 15 entitled “Thirty-Seven Hours Before He Dies”; this foreshadows a second death, though the reader knows only that the second victim will be a male.

My problem with the novel is that there are a lot of events that are not credible. First of all, as the author mentions, “Canada’s real embassy in Iceland is so small it doesn’t have a deputy ambassador or someone serving at that level. In fact, Canada has very few embassies with a position of deputy ambassador.” So why give Kavita this position? There’s a refugee subplot and, again, the author acknowledges that this is an “unlikely scenario” which requires the reader to suspend disbelief. So why not devise a more logical subplot?

Also in the Acknowledgments, Ms. Reid mentions that “of course there would be more officers on duty on Vestmannaeyjar than I have allowed the story to have.” The use of the incompetent/inexperienced policeman trope is carried to an extreme. When senior officers return to the island, why is Jónas allowed to remain in charge, especially because he makes such basic errors like allowing suspects to leave the scene so everyone has “’ample time to get stories straight and destroy anything incriminating’”? He doesn’t even question suspects individually, letting other suspects listen!

There are other plot issues. A man would allow virtual strangers to go through the personal papers of his recently deceased husband? A random person knows all the details of the dinner party and has even heard the initial medical findings? Then there are the unbelievable coincidences like Jane impulsively stealing some random papers which prove to be of utmost importance. And, finally, how can someone find a manuscript and know that there are two more books or that a short passage from another manuscript proves that it is “’clearly meant to be the third part of a trilogy’”?!

Because there are so many implausible actions, astute readers will be left less than impressed. In addition, the characters feel flat. They are really only sketched, not fully developed. What differentiates the characters is their occupations or pre-occupations more than their personalities. This is even the case with Jane whose perspective is presented the most.

For me the strongest element is the Icelandic setting. Though I’ve visited Iceland, I’ve not been to the Westman Islands so I enjoyed the descriptions and the historical information.

In an interview, the author mentioned that there will be another book featuring many of the characters from this story. I hope its plot will be less meandering with a faster pace, more tension, and fewer implausibilities.

Note: I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

I enjoyed this variation on the locked room mystery, the trapped island mystery! It’s much less dark than a lot of the Icelandic mysteries I’ve read which is a nice variation. You get a good sense of place, the mystery is interesting. I feel the resolution was a bit rushed but it does hold together with the rest of the story, just abrupt.

I do like the setting of this story. A small town on an island in Iceland, with a mysterious previous death of the Mayor's husband, a group of political (including an ambassador) and big business powers heading there to discuss certain decisions, right before a big storm hits. It is a good setup for a murder mystery and I will say there were some interesting ways that people died (flaming Viking drinks!) and how the death could help or hinder certain parties. That certainly was all interesting and with the storm I thought there would be a big reveal and lots of danger. That did not prove to be the case and it was kind of disappointing that even with the deaths, there seemed to be no really rush to find out why. A few people did searching, while others hooked up and the rookie cop did his best but nothing was resolved until everyone left and then returned several months later. There was kinda of cool twist with the reason why people ended up dead, and then the final twist at the end helped a bit. But this is not a fast thriller that kept me on the edge of my seat. It was an okay murder mystery in a cool environment. I rate this three and a half as it was all right and not bad for a debut mystery novel.

This is a fun little murder mystery. A group of people arrive on an island for a diplomatic dinner. They are hoping to arrange a few deals and everyone has their own secrets and agendas.

I can't lie, to start, this book is a little rough. There are a lot of names, at first, with titles and secrets and relationships. It took me a few chapters to figure out who was who, how they were connected, and who knew what (because not everyone knew everything).

I loved the map in the beginning. I loved the countdown so we knew what murder was coming. The suspense was great and kept me wondering what would happen next. And even though I had quite a few guesses, I definitely didn't see the twists all the way to the end. A fun mystery that kept me guessing. I liked it!

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

I love a good locked room mystery and this is a great example. It is also set in such an unusual, isolated setting that the mystery feels even more sinister. The author writes beautifully and I enjoyed the way she developed each of the characters as the plot progressed. This one kept me guessing and made me feel challenged, which is welcome when reading such a genre.

I found this book very difficult to get into thought it was slow and ultimately I dnf’d it 30% in. I really wanted to live it and was interested in the setting but I felt that it just fell flat

Author Eliza Reid is the former "first lady" of Iceland --though that term is not generally used in her country -- and has written a nonfiction book about the strides made by women in Iceland towards autonomy and equality. Now she's back with her first novel, a locked room mystery in the style of Agatha Christie. A group of nine international players has gathered in a tiny village off the coast of Iceland for a diplomatic dinner. There's Kristján, the mayor reeling from a personal tragedy. Graeme, the ambassador with an agenda to push. Jane, his wife, along for the ride on another one of her husband's many business trips. And several others, from Iceland and from abroad, each with their own reason for being there, their own loyalties and grievances. By the end of the night, one of them will be dead.

The novel's structure is quite clever, starting with the dinner described above, then going back in time to explore incidents that preceded it, before again moving forward in time, counting off the hours before another death will occur, though the victim is unnamed. In this way, the author maintained the suspense until the very end, before neatly resolving the issues of guilt and innocence. Character development is limited in this plot-driven mystery, and for me that was a drawback. Relationships and interactions among the various characters were puzzling at times, with cryptic hints dropped about past events that seemed to have uncertain relevance. Fans of Agatha Christie, however, will likely enjoy it more than I did.

This review was originally posted on Books of My Heart


Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

I enjoyed reading as I tried to get to know the different people and their motivations to try to solve the mystery. The reader gets the most perspective from Jane who is trying to figure things out herself. She is the wife of the ambassador from Canada to Iceland. They are headed to an island for the opening of an art exhibit. She brings along an author friend, Ben, of some renown to keep company if some of the events are boring.

Jane is not sure her marriage is going to last. Her husband cheated a few years back but promised his commitment and that the affair was discreet. Jane suspects he is cheating again. He seems too connected to the artist. He is actually very focused on the event and making good business arrangements at a tough point in his career. Jane is not and has not had an affair; Ben is just a friend.

While at the event, the deputy ambassador is seemingly poisoned. Everyone is stuck on the island because of a storm. The police detective is very young and it's his first murder case. Some help him; some hide inconvenient facts from him, and of course, some lie to him.

The mayor on the island has recently lost his partner, Ari, who was an investigative journalist. He is sure it was murder but it was ruled an accident. He has been too grieved to sort through Ari's office so Jane and Ben offer to help him. They go through many papers and find some indications he found evidence of the major local industry mistreating refugee workers. When they are leaving, Jane puts some additional folders in her bag to study at her hotel.

The young detective wants to do a reenactment so they can see where everyone was at the time of the poisoning. At this point, another death occurs. The storm ends and people leave. The story picks up 6 months later when the artist is finally having her event. Jane has since studied more of the papers and passed additional information on to the detective. We finally see him make an arrest and there is a very big twist as we learn more of everyone's thoughts at the end.

When it comes to mystery traditions, I definitely lean towards the British tradition. Agatha Christie's books haven't aged well in their social commentary (I wouldn't want my Irish son to read her references to the Irish), but in her books, the death was almost besides the point of Hercule Poirot exercising his little grey cells to solve the puzzle.

Eliza Reid, a Canadian author who also happens to serve as the First Lady of Iceland, has written a novel which combines the moodiness of Scandinavian noir with a locked door mystery on the Western Islands of Iceland. When the deputy Canadian ambassador to Iceland is murdered, the suspects are clear - the murderer must have been one of the few attendees at a private diplomatic dinner.

As the wife of the prime minister, Reid is no newbie to the world of diplomacy and politics, and I was impressed by the depth she puts into her main character, a diplomatic spouse who has had to put her life on hold for her husband, in a way which hasn't always been appreciated. The other characters are also specifically drawn, although none with as much nuance as ambassador's wife, Jane.

This time, I didn't guess who done it, and the twists and turns kept coming to the end. I'd recommend this to fans of Ann Cleeves or Louise Penny.

Five Canadians, a diplomat, his wife, his deputy, her husband and a best selling author travel to a remote island off the coast of Iceland. They have dinner at the local hotel, prepared by a notable chef, and are joined by an artist, the local mayor, a business owner and his wife. At the dinner, someone dies, possibly poisoned. A local policeman investigates while all are trapped on the island by a raging Winter storm.

This is the premise of Death on the Island, a debut thriller by Eliza Reid. This is one of the best mysteries I have read. All characters are secretive and manipulative, the remote volcanic island location is eerie and atmospheric and the plot is so complex that only the final pages provide a conclusion. Death on the Island should be an immediate best seller and I hope the talented Eliza Reid is writing her next mystery. 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Poisoned Pen Press and Eliza Reid for this ARC.

Eliza Reid’s "Death on the Island" is a smart, atmospheric debut that blends the structure of a classic whodunit with modern emotional depth.

Set on the remote Icelandic island of Heimaey, the novel opens with Kristján Gunnarsson, the mayor of Vestmannaeyjar, finding his husband dead. This apparent tragedy soon spirals into a trio of murders during a diplomatic dinner where attendees are stranded due to a violent storm.

The story is told in a non-linear fashion via a cleverly fragmented timeline that alternates the present-day events with timestamped flashbacks, which slowly reveal betrayals, secrets, and motives. At the heart of the story is Jane, the Canadian ambassador’s wife, whose growing unease adds a sharp, personal edge to the mystery. Reid's special dual perspective, as both a Canadian and former First Lady of Iceland, brings cultural nuance and authenticity to the dialogue and setting.

While the cast occasionally blurs in favor of plot complexity, the vivid, icebound setting and well-paced revelations keep the tension high. With equal parts locked-room thriller and slow-burn character study, "Death on the Island" is a compelling mystery with a wealth of emotion.

A fairly fresh-feeling crossover between Nordic noir and locked-room mystery. First off, I loved that this wasn’t especially long and drawn out with unnecessary detail — it gives you information you need and not much more. I love a locked room mystery, in this case, locked… island? The cast is large but fairly easy to keep straight. This book took many of the usual Christie-esque tropes and turned them a little sideways — an inexperienced detective who is no wunderkind was sort of refreshing.

Knocked down a star only because it felt a bit slow in some small parts, and I thought the POV shifts in this book left me feeling like I wasn’t sure who to trust (could I even trust what was being presented on the page? Can I rule anyone out or is a narrator lying to me?). The POV jumps instead of one clear protagonist to follow slowed momentum for me. Still, a fast popcorn thriller that I really enjoyed! Agatha Christie fans will also enjoy it.

Stranded on a remote island… one dead body… everyone’s a suspect 👀
If you're into locked room mysteries with serious Agatha Christie meets Lucy Foley energy—this one’s for you.

🌫️ The vibes? Immaculate. Moody, atmospheric, totally eerie.
😶 The characters? Shady. No one’s telling the whole truth.
🔄 The plot? Twisty enough that I kept second-guessing everyone.

BUT… the middle dragged a bit & some characters were kind of one-note.
Still, that final reveal? Chef's kiss. Not explosive, but smart and satisfying.

📚 Perfect if you like:
✔️ Isolated settings
✔️ Slow-burn suspense
✔️ Murder with a side of secrets

⭐️ 3/5 for me—but I’d recommend it for a cozy, rainy weekend read!

I just finished this and really enjoyed the ride. The setting was such a standout for me the island felt so vivid and atmospheric, it added this underlying tension to everything. The mystery was engaging without being overly complicated, and I liked how the clues unfolded naturally. I also appreciated that the characters felt like real people, with messy relationships and believable reactions. There were a couple of side elements I wish had been explored more, but that didn’t take away from how much I was into the story. It kept me turning pages and thinking about it after I was done. Definitely a strong 4.5 stars.

Book Review 📚

A locked room mystery, stuck on an small Iceland island. Everybody wants someone dead, two murders, who is the main suspect?

A book with lots of mysteries, POV.

A must for this summer, if you love a good thrillers with multiple POV!

Thanks
Rating : ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Author : Eliza Reid
Publisher : Poisoned Pen Press
Pages : 336
Genre : Suspense Thriller


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Thank you to netgalley, Poisoned Pen Press, and the author for the e-arc to review.

I loved the idea of this, but it was so slow and uninteresting. I didn't care for any of the characters and found them all pretty bland. I did like the mystery itself, and that's what kept me reading.

Someone who really loves Nordic noir might enjoy this.

Goodness me, this was such a good book. Highly entertaining. Would definitely recommend to others, that's for sure!