Trapped on a remote island by a howling storm, nine people sit down to dinner. One of them is about to die! Good book! This book had good suspense, intriguing, murder, great mystery, a good who done it and a few twists and turns! The story was interesting! I definitely recommend reading this book! Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for sharing this book with me!

This was a solid locked room mystery with several compelling characters. The author did a nice job of weaving the story with bits of Icelandic culture, which was pretty cool and didn’t slow the story down at all. The conclusion was a bit clunky and I had a reread it again because I wasn’t 100% sure what happened, but once I got it, it seemed to make sense. Quick, easy read with a good amount of tension.

Dull characters and pacing mar what could have been a great mystery in an exotic setting. I skipped to the end after reading 55 percent abd there was an admirredly good twist.

"Death on the Island" by Eliza Reid is a slow-paced locked-room mystery set in the Westman Islands, Iceland. It is the first in a planned series featuring some of the characters introduced in this book.

Nine people gather at chef Piotr's restaurant for a diplomatic dinner, each with their own reasons for being there. Among them are Kristján, the grieving mayor; Hanna, a former local artist; Graeme, the Canadian ambassador, and his wife Jane; Kavita, the deputy ambassador, and her husband Rahul; Linda and Thor, owners of a fish factory; and Ben, a famous author.

The plot thickens when one of the guests dies after drinking Piotr’s signature cocktail, the Flaming Viking. To make matters worse, a violent storm traps them on the island. When an inexperienced officer is assigned to the case, Jane takes it upon herself to investigate with the help of another guest. The clock is ticking, and no one is safe.

Overall, it was an okay read, but unfortunately, it didn’t fully work for me. The book started out strong - with a suspicious death - but it quickly lost its momentum. I loved the premise, the atmospheric setting, the Christie-esque locked-room setup, and the twists. However, I expected more suspense and tension. The slow pace, combined with extensive backstories, made it less gripping than I had hoped. While the character backstories added depth, they also slowed the narrative down significantly.

The book had all the ingredients for a great mystery - an exotic setting, an intriguing locked-room setup, and a group of strangers trapped with a murderer - but the execution fell short. Too much telling (about the island’s history, the characters' pasts, and the back-stabbing) and not enough showing made the reading experience tedious at times.

I also wasn’t a fan of how justice wasn’t fully served. I’m growing tired of stories where culprits walk free. What is it with this new trend of letting wrongdoers off the hook? In the end, I rated this book 2.5 out of 5 stars, rounding up to three, mainly because, despite its flaws, the book had its moments.

I didn't rate it higher because, at the end of the day, the story didn’t hold my engagement as much as I had hoped. The mystery didn’t have enough suspense to keep me fully invested. It’s a decent start to the series, but with a tighter plot and better pacing, it could be much stronger.

To sum, a promising premise that doesn’t fully reach its potential. A good pick if you enjoy slower, character-driven mysteries, but if you’re looking for a tense, edge-of-your-seat thriller, you might want to look elsewhere.

* Thank you NetGalley and (publisher) for the opportunity to read this arc. All opinions are my own.

2 stars.

This book is marketed as a debut but the author has other books listed in the Goodreads database. A group of “international players” (from the book description….these people are NOT really international players, except for one guy) are also n a tiny village on an island offf the coast of Iceland for your standard meet and greet with an unspoken agenda as Graeme, Canada’s ambassador to Iceland is seeking to make a business deal. Jane, his wife, is along for the ride, as she is so often. There’s Hanna, whose art exhibit they are all ostensibly there to view, Kavita, the deputy ambassador, her husband, Rahal, Kristjan, mayor of the town, Ben, Jane’s friend and a Booker Prize winner and Thor and Linda, owners of a major frozen fish company in Iceland. Soon one of them will be dead and it will be up to Jane to solve the crime because they are trapped on the island due to bad weather (of course.)

I was really rooting for this little mystery. I love books set in Iceland, Greenland, etc. I loved locked room mysteries. The description of the dinner was great. I would have loved more I eland specific details like that. Vestmannaeyjar sounds like a great town. But this was dull. Dull, dull, dull. I’m sorry to say it, but it’s true. Disappointing.

A diplomatic visit to the Westman Islands in Iceland seems like a way for relations with Canada to be strengthened. A former local artist Hanna is also there to open her art exhibit. It should be a fine meal at Skel, an extremely popular restaurant. Yet after the owner and chef Piotr serves his signature cocktail, someone winds up dead. It also is not the only dead body from what started as a group of nine.
I don’t want to give anything away, so I’ll just say that the chapter headings give you an idea what’s coming. Most of the story takes place over several days, but the final reveal doesn’t come until much more time has passed. When the author exposed the guilty party, I thought the twists were done. Silly me, there were so much more to come!
The location and the weather made this an intriguing locked room mystery. Who could’ve done these horrible things except for one of the guests? I’m not usually a fan of reading books set in the season that I’m living through right now,but I just went to take a little peek and read one chapter, and after that I couldn’t put it down. Jane,the wife of the Canadian ambassador was by far my favorite character. No spoilers, but I was hoping the whole time that she wasn’t a victim or a villain.

Who would have thought Agatha Christie retelling a were having a comeback?!? I could see how this was inspired by “And then there were none”. The nods to the original work were subtle but so well placed. I can’t wait to see what else this author comes out with.

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for providing me with this ARC copy in exchange for my honest feedback and review. Set to be released on May 13 2025, I am looking forward to reading this book!

Trapped on a remote island by a howling storm, nine people sit down to dinner. One of them is about to die. A group of 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. And it will be up to the ambassador's wife, Jane, to figure out how—and why. What Jane soon comes to realize is that small communities can be the most dangerous of them all… and no one in their group is safe. With secrets around every corner and violent weather trapping the finite list of suspects together on the island, this locked-room mystery by internationally bestselling author Eliza Reid brings Agatha Christie and Nordic noir together in a brand-new twist.