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Winnipeg Free Press
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Winnipeg Free Press
On the night table: Eliza Reid
Eliza Reid Author, Death on the Island I just finished Chris Hadfield's book An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth — I read that there was a quote in the book that I wanted to use in another book I'm writing. I read the whole thing to see if I could find the quote, and it turns out it was one of those fake internet things. It hadn't been on my radar that much to read, but I really enjoyed it — I'd definitely recommend it. SAGA SIG PHOTO Eliza Reid Buy on Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. And I just started a book called Cobalt, which is by former Member of Parliament Charlie Angus, all about the mineral and the town Cobalt. It came out at the same time as (Reid's first book) Secrets of the Sprakkar; I bought it at a bookstore where I was doing an event, and I just hadn't managed to start reading it yet. So I'm only one chapter into that. Buy on An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth
Winnipeg Free Press
10-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Winnipeg Free Press
Attaché case
Define boring and give an example: the career-plateaued Canadian ambassador to Iceland takes a ferry to a small island to officially open an exhibit by a young Canadian artist/scientist resident in Iceland. People are yawning, trying to stay awake, and suddenly — gasp! Choke! Splutter! Splat! Thump! Well yes, of course someone gets murdered. Poison most foul. Saga Sig photo Eliza Reid's debut mystery novel is less grisly Nordic noir and more closed-door, Agatha Christie-type suspense. Who, you're not going to find out here, but it's pivotal to a nifty Agatha Christie-style debut murder mystery by Canadian Eliza Reid, who's married to the former president of Iceland. Reid has published major non-fiction works on gender equality and women's rights, but Death on the Island is her first work of fiction, and devilish it is. Having killed off one character, Reid then flashes back, counting down the hours until that person dies. Then after the young local police officer arrives and a handy storm cancels all ferries and flights to the island, Reid counts down her chapters beginning with '37 hours before he dies,' with no hint of who 'he' may be. Rather fiendish — well played, Eliza. Reid's surrogate herein is Jane Shearer, wife of Canadian ambassador Graeme. He's not in the best of moods, his promising career stalled in the low minors long ago, and he's hoping to get a deal with the local fish merchant to expand into Canada, that petty bourgeoisie's reprehensive labour record notwithstanding. We soon also learn Graeme is a cad and well on his way to being a scoundrel. But is he a killer? Jane describes herself as a trailing spouse, invisible, dressed to blend into the background, to make nice with the spouses of other dignitaries. Turns out she's quite the amateur sleuth, to no reader's surprise. The eclectic cast of characters at the first death tends to loathe each other for reasons Reid will elucidate, with the exception of those who are hopping in and out of each other's beds. Among those is Graeme, establishing diplomatic relations with non-domestic boudoirs. Death on the Island Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. Heads up Gimli, there is a character from your community, a famous Canadian author with Icelandic roots. Is he at all familiar? Everyone underestimates the local cop, because he grew up on the island and everyone more senior is storm-stranded in Reykjavik, though Jane recognizes the intelligence he's hiding and — gosh, wasn't Miss Marple's first name Jane? As we were saying, she gives him a gentle hint here and there, and eventually he gathers everyone to re-enact the first death. Death on the Island is a humdinger of a debut novel. So many people could be guilty for so many reasons, so many big fish in a little pond are hiding secrets of nastiness that may not necessarily include murder, so much deviousness. What have you got next, Eliza? Retired Free Press reporter Nick Martin would have had a tough time as a diplomat — too much making nice and trying to remember which fork goes with which course.
Winnipeg Free Press
03-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Winnipeg Free Press
Death in the diplomatic service
Eliza Reid has been a force in the Icelandic literary community for over a decade. In 2014 she co-founded the Iceland Writers Retreat, just two years before becoming first lady of the country after her husband, Gudni Johannesson, was elected president, a position he held until 2024. And while the Ottawa-born Reid (whose mother and maternal grandparents have Winnipeg roots) has written extensively for a range of Icelandic publications, it wasn't until 2020 that she penned a book of her own, Secrets of the Sprakkar, which detailed the achievements and contributions of women in her Nordic country. Now Reid, 48, has returned with her first work of fiction, Death on the Island, published April 29 by Simon & Schuster in Canada. Reid will be in Winnipeg at McNally Robinson Booksellers' Grant Park location on Sunday at 2 p.m., where she'll be joined in conversation by Shelagh Rogers. (She'll also be at Gimli's Unitarian Church at 3:30 p.m. today.) Saga Sig photo Eliza Reid's first mystery novel, Death on the Island, is set on Iceland's Westman Islands. The premise of Death on the Island: At a dinner party, guests (including diplomats, business leaders, a novelist from Gimli and others) mingle before the restaurant serves up its signature cocktail, the Flaming Viking, as a welcome. Within moments, the Canadian deputy ambassador is dead, seemingly poisoned. But which of the guests gathered at Skel, the high-end restaurant located on Iceland's Westman Islands, could have done it, and why? That's what Jane Shearer, the head ambassador's wife, wants to find out. Reid started work on Death on the Island right after finishing Secrets of the Sprakkar. 'I was in the writing mindset; I had enjoyed that process,' she says by Zoom from her home outside Reykjavik prior to her Canadian visit. 'And I thought, you know, if I ever want to write another book, maybe I should start right now — otherwise I'll tell myself that I'm too busy to actually do anything.' She's already at work on a sequel to Death on the Island, and on May 1 it was announced her debut work of fiction had been picked up to be made into a TV series in a joint Iceland-Canada production, for which Reid will serve as executive producer. Rather than join the long and rich literary tradition of bestselling Nordic noir thrillers, Reid fancied a less grisly and dark murder mystery, inspired more by the likes of Agatha Christie. 'I don't know that I would define it as necessarily a cosy mystery … I've always loved the British-style, closed-room murder-mystery,' she says. 'You're not going to discover five pages before the end that the murderer is someone you've never met. I want to give the reader a fighting chance to be able to figure out what happened.' Setting the novel on one of the Westman Islands allowed weather to trap the cast of characters on the island when the ferry shuts down and flights are grounded — and the suspense ratchets up. It also gave Reid a chance to highlight the remote, relatively unknown locale. Death on the Island Every Second Friday The latest on food and drink in Winnipeg and beyond from arts writers Ben Sigurdson and Eva Wasney. 'It's an area of the country that visitors know a bit less about, but like many regions of the country, it has this long rich history,' she says, noting a 1973 volcanic eruption that decimated many homes on the island also proved an 'interesting metaphorical backdrop.' Reid's own experiences and interactions with ambassadors and diplomats served as an inspiration in writing Death on the Island — particularly the misconceptions around what they do. 'It's a bit of an homage to the diplomatic service. When I was serving as first lady, I saw the work they did first-hand and I think that it's often unappreciated. 'I think that there's a sense that it's very glamorous, people drinking champagne all the time,' she says, adding with a laugh 'the book's not an international thriller where they're going around the world to bring about world peace, but I'm hoping it's a little sexier than 'I lost my passport somewhere.'' Ben SigurdsonLiterary editor, drinks writer Ben Sigurdson is the Free Press's literary editor and drinks writer. He graduated with a master of arts degree in English from the University of Manitoba in 2005, the same year he began writing Uncorked, the weekly Free Press drinks column. He joined the Free Press full time in 2013 as a copy editor before being appointed literary editor in 2014. Read more about Ben. In addition to providing opinions and analysis on wine and drinks, Ben oversees a team of freelance book reviewers and produces content for the arts and life section, all of which is reviewed by the Free Press's editing team before being posted online or published in print. It's part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
