Although Murder on an Italian Island is book 12 in T. A. Williams’s Armstrong and Oscar Cozy Mystery series it is easily read as a standalone novel, in fact this was my first book in the series and I found it quite enjoyable.
The main character, Dan, is a former police officer with the London Metropolitan Police turned author and private investigator now living in Tuscany. When he and his partner, and their friends take a vacation on Elba, they are drawn into solving two mysterious murders that occur while they are there.
I found the mystery of the murders in this book to be interesting. I think the author could have played up the connection between one of the victims and Dan’s friend Virgilio a bit more, to make the story a bit more suspenseful. I felt like the police cleared him pretty quickly and didn’t really put much effort into determining the cause of death of the first victim.
My favourite character in the book was Dan’s dog Oscar. I loved that they included Oscar in their vacation plans, and it was a good thing they did because he became very important to the story.
A lot of the story was not focused on the mystery, but more on Dan’s relationship with his partner Anna, and how he had been neglecting her. His efforts to stay out of the mystery in order to spend more time with her were not very successful, but Anna seemed to be very understanding for the most part.
This book was on the shorter side compared to a lot of books I’ve read lately, but I found it was fairly slow paced at times, so I did struggle a bit to stay involved with it. Still, I did enjoy the book overall, and am interested in reading other books in the series.
I would recommend this book to mystery lovers, especially if you have a lazy summer afternoon for reading.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Murder on an Italian Island will be available on August 5 2025.
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