Death on the Island by Eliza Reid Book Review

Title: Death on the Island
Author: Eliza Reid
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
Genre: Locked‑Room Mystery, Thriller
Year of Publication: 2025
Date of Publication: May 13, 2025
Pages: 336
ISBN‑10: 1728292417
ISBN‑13: 978‑1728292410

Summary of Death on the Island

Set on a remote Icelandic island, Death on the Island centers around the events that took place at a diplomatic dinner attended by local leaders and international dignitaries. Among the guests are Mayor Kristján, Canadian Ambassador Graeme Shearer, his wife Jane, and Deputy Ambassador Kavita Banerjee. But what begins as a formal evening quickly turns fatal when Kavita collapses and dies from poisoning.

Earlier that evening, Graeme and Kavita had a heated argument at the hotel bar in full view of a whole lot of witnesses. At the same time, Jane, the ambassador’s wife, is quietly dealing with the fallout of Graeme’s past infidelity, which has left their relationship strained and uncertain.

While all of this is going on, a storm traps the group on the island, cutting off all communication and escape.

Adding to the mystery is Mayor Kristján’s unresolved grief. Eight weeks before the dinner, his husband Ari was found dead. Kristján was told that it was from a heart attack, but he refused to believe it because of Ari’s line of work. Before he found Ari, he received a single text from him with word “Komdu” (“Come”). But when Kristján arrived, Ari was dead. When the events of the dinner happen, Kristján is convinced his husband’s death was not natural, and the dinner’s events may finally shed light on what really happened.

A lot of the story is about uncovering past betrayals, hidden resentments, and tangled relationships.

Main Characters

• Mayor Kristján: He is the community mayor, whose husband died a few weeks before the dinner.
• Ambassador Graeme Shearer: Canadian Ambassador to Iceland and Jane’s husband.
• Jane Shearer: The Ambassador’s wife.
• Kavita Banerjee: Canada’s deputy ambassador, who is poisoned during the meal. She was working on a project to temporarily match refugees with jobs in Iceland until all their paperwork came through for them to get to Canada.
• Rahul: Kavita’s husband.
• Ben: Jane’s friend. He is an internationally famous author whose latest book has everyone waiting on the sequel.
• Hanna: She used to be a scientist but turned to an artist. Her latest exhibition pays homage to a nearby island, a rocky teardrop, which sprung out of the Atlantic in 1963 and formed from an undersea eruption.
• Ari – Kristján’s late husband. He was a journalist whose mysterious death weeks before the dinner becomes intertwined with the poisoning investigation.
• Linda Jónsdóttir: She is the wife of the CEO of Bláhafid Seafood Products, Thór Magnússon, who Ambassador Graeme seeks to convince to invest in Canada.
• Thór Magnússon – He is the CEO of Bláhafid Seafood Products, a fishing-industry company whose business dominates the island’s economy and is the largest employer in the area. He is married to Linda.
• Piotr Tómasson (Chef Piotr) – The local chef who crafts the signature cocktail (“Flaming Viking”) that becomes the instrument of Kavita’s murder. He owns Skel restaurant, which is known for creating dishes that showcased plants native to the Western Islands.
• Officer Jónas Jónasson – The young local policeman assigned to the case.

Writing Style

The story take place in Iceland, in an area called The Western Islands or Vestmannaeyjar in Icelandic. The narrative is told mostly from Jane’s point of view with a time stamp at the start of each chapter relating to the deaths. In addition to Jane’s perspective, Eliza Reid uses both flashbacks and a narration on current events to tell the story and reveal each character’s secrets.

Twelve Hours Before She Died
Eleven Hours Before He Dies

As a reader, you may find that you spend a lot of time trying to figure out who committed the crimes and what their motivations are. With every chapter, your list of suspects is likely to shift.

Favorite Quotes

• “Don’t worry, I am here to impress you, not to kill you.”—Chef Piotr
• “What just happened?” Jane said to Graeme. “At first, the kid looked like he had been up half the night reviewing police training manuals on protocols and interrogations, then out of nowhere, he goes in for the kill.”—Jane
• “Friends often claim to be drowning in work if they miss a birthday or are late for a get together, but when the news is associated with scandal, it blows through like a hurricane.”—Rahul
• “Murder quite frankly had been good for business. Perhaps a group of murder suspect returning to the Island would be even better.”—Hanna reflecting on how Piotr was dealing with the aftermath of the dinner.

Impact of Death on the Island

Although Death on the Island is not Eliza Reid’s first book, it is her first novel and marks her debut into the world of fiction. Through the characters, the book highlights what diplomatic dynamics can sometimes feel like. It also adds hints and subtle touches about Icelandic culture which makes the story feel very authentic. But above all else, it delivers just the right amount of suspense to keep you as reader guessing until the final pages.

The book is set to be adapted for television.

Have you read Death on the Island? Where you able to guess who the killer was and what clues gave it away? What did you think about the ending?

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