Murder on an Italian Island is the 12th (!!!) Armstrong and Oscar cozy destination mystery by T.A. Williams. Released 5th Aug 2025 by Boldwood books, it's 234 pages and is available in hardcover, paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. For Kindle Unlimited subscribers, although this book is *not* currently included in the KU subscription library to borrow, the first 11 books in the series are currently available on KU, so readers who hate to start in the middle will be able to access the previous books without trouble.
This is a beautifully descriptive and well written destination mystery set in locations around Italy. Expat former policeman Dan Armstrong and his trusty canine sidekick Oscar are set up as private PIs, but also assist local constabulary in solving crimes, especially ones involving the expat community/foreigners. Dan's usually along to facilitate translations in English for the police and witnesses, but his insights are valuable and he and the lead detective have a good rapport and friendship. In this case, a possible murder/suicide/accidental death has Dan & his inspector friend Virgilio trying to sort out the death of a reviled former criminal on Elba whilst on holiday (and of which Virgilio was briefly under suspicion).
The plotting is solid and the dialogue and characterizations are well controlled and believable. The mystery, denouement, and resolution are self contained in this volume, so it works well enough as a standalone, but the writing and mystery are so well planned and executed, that it would make an excellent long binge or buddy read.
It's not derivative at all, but it reminded me in a lot of good ways of Leon's exceptional Brunetti books as well as Walker's lovely Bruno, chief of police books. Fans of those authors will find a lot to enjoy here.
Four and a half stars. Very highly recommended. Clever, likeable, engaging, and well engineered mystery with stunning scenery and lovely food descriptions.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
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