Blink49 Studios has reportedly acquired the rights to adapt the debut novel Death on the Island by Eliza Reid, also known as Iceland‘s former First Lady, into a new television series.
Affiliated with production company The Fifth Season, Blink49 Studios is bringing in Icelandic co-producer Truenorth and writer Lynee Kamm (Plan B) to adapt the novel into a six-episode series. The crime series is currently in production, with no firm release date yet.
Promoted as a “twist-filled mystery thriller,” Death on the Island takes place in the high-stakes world of diplomacy. According to the synopsis of Death on the Island, “When the Canadian ambassador’s deputy collapses at a remote Icelandic soirée, suspicions swirl, and his wife, Jane Shearer, decides to take matters into her own hands. Partnering with an ambitious young Icelandic detective, Jane uncovers a web of secrets, corruption, and betrayal stretching from Reykjavik’s elite to the heart of her own marriage. As the danger mounts and the truth threatens powerful interests, Jane must choose: protect the illusion or risk everything to unmask a killer.”
Eliza Reid was Iceland’s First Lady between 2016 and 2024, when she was married to then-president Guðni Thorlacius Jóhannesson. A former magazine journalist and freelance writer, Reid has drawn inspiration from her time as First Lady for her first novel.
Death on the Island is the first book in Reid’s new series and was released in Canada on April 29. It is scheduled for release in the U.S. on 13 May and in the U.K. on 5 June. The novel, titled Death of a Diplomat in Iceland, became an instant bestseller when it was published there in March. Also, her non-fiction book Secrets of the Sprakkar: Iceland’s Extraordinary Women and How They Are Changing the World was a bestseller in Iceland and Canada.
About the adaptation news, Reid commented: “I’m incredibly excited to see my debut novel come to life on the small screen,” and added, “Death on the Island brings together my love of diplomatic intrigue, mystery, and my adopted home, Iceland. I’m thrilled to share this world, and looking forward to it resonating with viewers around the world.”
Blink49 executive producer Virginia Rankin described the book as a “compelling, high-stakes story that blends international intrigue, a complex female lead, and a richly atmospheric setting which is exactly the kind of storytelling we’re passionate about bringing to life for a global audience.” While writer Kamm said Reid’s setting is “in a world she knows like no-one else,” making “a deliciously deadly cocktail of diplomacy, dysfunction, and murder.”
Source: Deadline
