Trouble Island by Sharon Short
Publication Date: December 3, 2024
Summary from Goodreads:
A gripping new novel inspired by a real place and events from the author’s family, Trouble Island is the standalone suspense debut from historical mystery writer Sharon Short.
Many miles from anywhere in the middle of Lake Erie, Trouble Island serves as a stop-off for gangsters as they run between America and Canada. The remote isle is also the permanent home to two women: Aurelia Escalante, who serves as a maid to Rosita, lady of the mansion and wife to the notorious prohibition gangster, Eddie McGee. In the freezing winter of 1932, the women anticipate the arrival of Eddie and his strange coterie: his right-hand man, a doctor, a cousin, a famous actor, and a rival gangster who Rosita believes murdered their only son.
Aurelia wants nothing more than to escape Trouble Island, but she is hiding a secret of her own. She is in fact not a maid, but a gangster’s wife in hiding, as she runs from the murder she committed five years ago. Her friend Rosita took her in under this guise, but it has become clear that Rosita wants to keep Aurelia right where she is.
Shortly after the group of criminals, celebrities, and scoundrels arrive, Rosita suddenly disappears. Aurelia plans her getaway, going to the shore to retrieve her box of hidden treasures, but instead finds Rosita’s body in the water. Someone has made sure Aurelia was the one to find her. An ice storm makes unexpected landfall, cutting Trouble Island off from both mainlands, and with more than one murderer among them.
Confession:
This was a very well done mystery that had a rich atmospheric setting, I just wish that I could have liked any of the characters. Not that they were all bad, but let’s just say that most of them got what they deserved. I also never really got the 1930’s vibe. Sure there were gangsters and talk of bootlegging, but other than that this could have been set in any time period and it wouldn’t have changed the story much.
The story is a first person narrative told by Aurelia. At first I felt pretty sympathetic towards her but as the story went on, I found her not as likable as I would have hoped, although I still felt very sorry for her. We pretty much know from the start that Aurelia has had a tough life with a lot of trauma. We don’t know exactly what has happened to her, but there are enough hints at the start that the big reveal wasn’t all that big of a surprise. But her life has been shaped by that trauma. She is a survivor, and she needs to be in order to survive the events of the book.
There were many other characters stuck on the island with Aurelia and while I liked the other staff members she lived with, the other characters were not very likable. Of course most of these were gangsters or their goons, so there wasn’t much to like. There is also Rosita who is the focus of the mystery. I found her really unlikable, which was interesting because her life was similar to Aurelia’s. Rosita was a sympathetic character, but I also found her to be a manipulative bitch who really cared for no one but herself. Which explains much of the story and how everything ended.
The atmosphere and setting of this book is what really made this such a good read. The island itself was almost a character with it’s own role to play in the story. The descriptions of the menacing and isolated island were perfect and really played into the locked room mystery feel of the whole story. The plot was well done and really intricate. I had a hard time figuring it out, mostly because the characters were such unreliable liars whose motives and allegiances seemed to change on a dime. The ending was fantastic, and although I didn’t totally agree with Aurelia’s choices, I certainly understood why she made them.
If you enjoy twisty, locked room mysteries, with a cast of characters that are just as layered as the story, then this is a book you should give a chance. It was really well written, and even though I didn’t like the main character I could certainly sympathize with her.
Confessions of a Serial Reader 
This sounds like a good read. It’s a shame that the 1930s setting didn’t really work though as that would have attracted me more.
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I think it didn’t quite work just because the story takes place on an isolated island. But it is still a really good story.
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I generally want to like at least someone in a book too, thanks for sharing your thoughts.
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