My list of Best Mysteries Set on an Island discusses that islands CAN be a peaceful and secluded place to get away BUT they can also leave you trapped with a dangerous crowd! Did you love The Guest List by Lucy Foley or White Lotus on HBO? Check out my Spooky Island Fiction book list, which includes mysteries and thrillers plus a link to my post on YA mysteries set on islands! Updated with 7 new 2025 titles AND an island quiz!
Best Mysteries and Thrillers Set on an Island
Table of contents:
New Island Mystery and Thriller Books for 2025
20 More Books Set on Spooky Islands!
Take My Match the Celebrity to the Island Quiz
The sense of isolation on an island that seems exclusive and relaxing can quickly turn terrifying. There’s nothing worse than being trapped on a creepy island with someone out to get you!Below are my suggestions of mysteries set on creepy (or atmospheric) islands, places where you’d better watch your back!
New Island Mysteries and Thrillers for 2025!
Disclosure: as an Amazon Affiliate I may receive a small percentage of qualifying purchases.
The Last Ferry Out by Andrea Bartz (2025)
- Where: Isla Colel, Mexico
- What: A grieving Abby is there after the tragic accidental death of her fiancée, Ezther.
Abby finds that Ezther had an expat and locals friend group that seemed so nice and supportive. But why are they so evasive??
My review of Last Ferry Out is coming soon!
Salt Water by Katy Hays (2025)
- Where: Capri, Italy
- What: the members of a wealthy family gather to mourn one of their own. But secrets and lies can’t stay hidden forever!
My Review with Spoilers for Salt Water is here!
Close Your Eyes and Count to Ten by Lisa Unger (2025)
- Where: Falcao Island in the Azores
- What: a high octane reality competition where competitors must survive on a remote island in a horrible storm. When the first body turns up, is it an accident, or something more deadly?
My Review of Close Your Eyes and Count to 10!
Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney (2025)
- Where: the Isle of Amberly, off the western coast of Scotland
- What: Grady Green is headed there to work on his new book, and hopefully break his crippling writer’s block, caused by the disappearance of his wife, Abby
Sounds lovely, but on this island, nothing is what it seems…
Check out my Review of Beautiful Ugly with Spoilers!
Vantage Point by Sara Sliger (2025)
- Where: Locust Harbor Maine
- What: a wealthy brother and sister from a “cursed” family try to sort out their family, personal and financial problems, while trying not to be victims of the curse.
Check out my Review with Spoilers for Vantage Point.
You Are Fatally Invited by Andre Pliego (2025)
- Where: Wolf Harbor Island
- What: an exclusive party for a group of writers, who soon get eliminated one by one. Can they solve the mystery before they end up a victim?
Check out my Review with Spoilers for You Are Fatally Invited
The Inheritance by Trisha Sakhlecha (2025)
- Where: Eilean Kilbryde (the island of Kilbride, off the west coast of Scotland)
- What: an intimate family gathering of the very wealthy Agarwal family
This book has ALL the Succession vibes. It’s a slow burn, but I found it worthwhile in the end. My review is coming soon!
Mystery and Thriller Books Set on Remote Islands
The Blue Hour by Paula Hawkins (2024)
- Where: a spit of land in Scotland that becomes inaccessible during high tide
- What: an art consultant tries to get a prickly doctor to hand over works of art and papers belonging to the late Vanessa Chapman, whose husband mysteriously went missing…
Loved this book. Check out my Reader’s Guide to the Blue Hour complete with spoilers and a character guide!
Bad Tourists by Caro Carver (2024)
- Where: a divorce celebration trip to the Maldives
- What: Weird things start happening. Does it have anything to do with the unusual connection these women have?
Three women fly to the Maldives. Darcy hosts the trip as a divorce party. Her friends Kate and Camilla (the author is British, and I was thinking, “Kate and Camilla?????”) are joining her.
But weird stuff starts to happen. The book does a great job of making its remote location seem both beautiful and a bit isolated in a creepy way.
I enjoyed this one! Check out my Review of Bad Tourists
One Perfect Couple by Ruth Ware (2024)
- Where: an uninhabited island in the Indian Ocean, accessible from Indonesia
- What: five couples on a reality show that turns into a terrifying fight to survive
Virologist Lyla is reluctant to go along with her boyfriend Nico’s desire to compete on a reality show called One Perfect Couple.
Along with four other couples, Lyla and Nico fly and then sail to a remote island off Indonesia.
But a terrible storm cuts the contestants off from communication with the outside world and things start to go terribly wrong.
Check out my Review of One Perfect Couple!
Also my Spoiler Discussion for One Perfect Couple
The Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Turton (2024)
- Where: an isolated island
- What: the last survivors of a global disaster solve a mystery with a ticking clock
An isolated island holds all the population left in the world after a deadly fog killed the rest of the globe’s population.
The island is being protected by a security system, but when one of the scientists monitoring the system is murdered, everyone is at risk.
Who committed the crime? No one knows. Not even the murderer, as everyone’s memories have been wiped.
On the Surface by Rachel McGuire (2024)
- Where: The Bahamas
- What: a pair of “cruiser” influencers trying to make money by chronicling their life on the sea on YouTube. But one of them goes missing
Check out my Review of On the Surface with spoilers!
The Guest List by Lucy Foley (2020)
- Where: an island off the coast of Ireland
- What: a lavish destination wedding goes sideways when a member of the wedding party is murderered. Why and by whom?
I believe that The Guest List could be the book that started the 2020s “spooky island” trend, one that is still going strong in 2024.
A beautiful bride, a famous groom, a gorgeous island setting.
But someone in the group is dead and there are a ton of suspects. If you’ve read this one, check out my spoiler discussion for The Guest List!
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie (1939)
- Where: Indian Island, off the coast of Devon
- What: a group is invited to Indian Island by a mysterious host and are then picked off one by one.
The classic Agatha Christie mystery that started it all!
Ten people are invited to a isolated mansion on Indian Island (off the Devon coast) by a host who, surprisingly, fails to appear.
One by one, the guests share the darkest secrets of their wicked pasts. And one by one, they die…
Check out these books like And Then There Were None!
The Fury by Alex Michaelides (2024)
- Where: a private Greek island
- What: a friend group on a holiday is forced to face their own secrets, jealousy and lies.
Lana Farrar, a famous yet reclusive ex–movie star invites her closest friends to weather and spend Easter on her private Greek island.
But seeming “friendships” concealed hatred and a desire for revenge. What followed was a game of cat and mouse ― a battle of wits, full of twists and turns, building to an unforgettable climax. The night ended in violence and death, as one of us was found murdered.
Check out my Review of The Fury with Spoilers!
Saint X by Alexis Schaitkin (2023)
- Where: Saint X, a fictional Caribbean island
- What: a young woman on holiday with her family vanishes, leaving her sister to pick up the pieces
I read this but didn’t review it because I think many of my blog readers would find it a bit unconventional.
I am including it on this list because it’s NOT the typical “spooky island” thriller. It’s a book that tries to be more victim centered and sociological.
Inspired (I think) by the Natalie Holloway case and/or the Amy Lynn Bradley case, it takes a very different look at the disappearance of a young American tourist who is vacationing in the Caribbean with her family.
You can watch Saint X on HULU. I haven’t watched, but if you had, give us your take in the comments!
Because it looks at the darker side of tourism, I’m also adding it to my list of Books Like White Lotus
Stranded by Sarah Goodwin (2021)
- Where: Buidseach Isle, which is a fictional island that (I think) is off the west coast of Scotland. “Buidseach” is the Scottish name for a witch.
- What: a group of contestants making a reality show/documentary about survival in the wild is cut off from civilization. With limited food and interpersonal rivalries, all bets are off.
I completely missed Stranded when it came out and …. whoa!
It’s more of a survival thriller than the other books on the list, but I found its “Lord of the Flies” aspects so disturbing and terrifying that I had to keep putting the book down. It’s SO intense.
Check out my review of this chilling book!
Reckless Girls by Rachel Hawkins (2021)
- Where: Meroe Island, a remote island in the South Pacific
- What: a woman and her boyfriend agree to sail two women to a deserted South Pacific island that might be cursed.
This wasn’t my favorite Rachel Hawkins (my review of Reckless Girls is here), but it has a good, spooky (tropical!) island vibe that means it definitely belongs on this list.
Check out my Reckless Girls Spoiler Post!
The Survivors by Jane Harper (2021)
- Where: Tasmania, an island (that is also a state) in Australia
- What: a man and his wife and child return to his hometown in Tasmania, where he has to face a tragedy that still reverberates through the small community
Years after a tragedy, a young man and his family return to his hometown on Tasmania. But secrets can never stay buried and soon he must confront the part he played in a tragic event.
Check out my spoiler post for the Survivors by Jane Harper! This was a slow burn mystery with an intriguing setting!
The Retreat by Sarah Pearse (2022)
- Where: Reaper’s Rock, an island off the English coast
- What: a group of influencers gather at a new wellness retreat, but are greeted with a dead body.
The Retreat is an”eco-wellness retreat” on an island off the English coast called Reaper’s Rock, an island with a dark past. It’s rumored to be cursed.
But when a young woman’s body is found on the rocks below the yoga pavilion in what seems to be a tragic fall, the police show up to investigate. But the victim wasn’t a guest—she wasn’t supposed to be on the island at all.
The Retreat is book two in The Sanatorium series. You can join my (lively!) Spoiler Discussion for book one, The Sanatorium and my Spoiler Discussion for The Retreat.
One of the Girls by Lucy Clarke (2022)
- Where: a Greek island
- What: a hen party goes very, very wrong
Another offering in the “girls trip to an island gone wrong lane, One of the Girls is about a hen party on a Greek island that goes very sideways. With friends like these, who needs enemies, right?
I didn’t review this but it is on my Wedding Mystery list. Yes, there is a whole list. Who’d have thought?
The Sanctuary by Karine Engberg (2020)
- Where: Bornholm, an island off of Denmark in the Baltic Sea
- What: a police detective solves a murder on an isolated Danish island
In the Scandinavian-noir island category, there is The Sanctuary.
I didn’t know the first thing about Scandinavian islands, but this mystery takes place on the island of Bornholm, which is a Danish island in the Baltic Sea, to the east of the rest of Denmark, south of Sweden, northeast of Germany and north of Poland.
I enjoyed this third book in a trilogy and my review is here!
Whisper Island by Carissa Ann Lynch (2021)
- Where: Whisper Island, off the coast of Alaska
- What: four friends take the Alaskan trip of a lifetime … but it turns deadly
For four friends, their trip to Whisper Island, Alaska, is a once in a lifetime adventure.
But as soon as they arrive things start to go wrong. And then the deaths begin.
Could have used a bit more filling in, but a quick and twisty read.
Every Vow You Break by Peter Swanson (2021)
- Where: Heart Pond Island, off the coast of Maine
- What: a honeymoon trip goes sideways
A whirlwind romance. A romantic honeymoon. Sounds idyllic, but then things get really creepy.
I liked this one, but things got a bit weird at the end.
Check out my Spoiler Post for Every Vow you Break!
Her Dark Lies by J.T. Ellison (2021)
- Where: Isle Isloa, off the western coast of Italy in the Tyrrhenian Sea
- What: why do all the brides in this family end up …. dead?
Another destination wedding on a remote island!
A talented artist is about to marry into a rich family, and the wedding is to take place at the family’s island compound on a private island off the coast of Italy. Where all the brides seem to end up falling prey to that “til death do us part” thing…
Check out my full review of Her Dark Lies here and my spoiler discussion for Her Dark Lies here.
Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane (2009)
- Where: Shutter island, in the Massachusetts Outer Harbor
- What: a US Marshal comes to Shutter Island to find an escaped psychiatric patient
It’s 1954, and U.S. Marshals Teddy Daniels and Chuck Aule arrive at Shutter Island.
The island is home to Ashcliffe Hospital, a federal institution for the criminally insane, and one of the patients has escaped.
Wheng ale-force winds hit the island and Aule disappears, Daniels must go it alone, beset by the fear.
I loved this one, and the movie too!
Raven Black by Ann Cleeves (2006)
- Where: the Shetland Islands, an island archipelago between Scotland and Norway
- What: a police procedural which inspired a popular TV series
I did not know that the streaming series Shetland is based on this series. I have the book and can’t wait to read it.
A lonely outcast named Magnus Tait stays home waiting for visitors who never come. But the next morning someone discovers the body of a murdered teenage girl nearby, and suspicion falls on Magnus. Inspector Jimmy Perez enters an investigative maze that leads deeper into the past of the Shetland Islands than anyone wants to go.
Ready to Take My Celebrity Island Quiz?
Can you match the celebrity to their private island? Take the quiz!
Quiz Answers:
- Richard Branson: Necker Island BVI
- David Copperfield: Musha Cay, Bahamas
- Leonardo DiCaprio: Blackadore Cay, Belize
- Ricky Martin: Isna do Maia, Brazil
- Tyler Perry: White Bay Cay, Bahamas
If you enjoyed this post, then be sure to check out my list of YA Book Set on Islands!
Do you have suggestions for my “creepy island” list? Please let me know in comments!
I love island settings. I really need to get some of these…
Right? Islands sound so nice and then are kind of isolated and creepy when you think about it!
There’s definitely something about a thriller/horror novels set on an island that make them more sinister.
Thanks for the recommendation!
I agree – hope you try some of these!
I love this topic! Islands are such great settings for mysteries and And Then There Were None is one of my favorite books. The Lucy Foley and the JT Ellison are on my TBR but now I need to give the rest a try!
I’m glad – let me know what you think. Stop by my Guest List spoiler discussion post when you are finished – we have a lot of questions!