A Murder Mystery Set During the COVID-19 Lockdown

56 Days by Catherine Ryan Howard is officially the first book I've read that features the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically it is set in the early days of the global pandemic in March-April 2020. The events take place in Dublin, Ireland. Ciara and Oliver meet right before the first lockdown. They are both new in town, they go on a few dates and since both of them are going to be working from home for the next two weeks, they decide to hunker down together in Oliver's apartment rather than spend this time in isolation. Now, 56 days later, there is a dead body in that apartment and the police are here to investigate.

I cannot say much more about the plot for fear of spoiling it. It is one of those mystery novels that you are much better of going into blind. I will however, comment on the writing. The author does a great job with character development. Even though the novel is only 300 pages, we really get to know Ciara and Oliver as well as the two detectives who are called to the crime scene. 

This book features multiple points of view and several different timelines. I think this worked very well in this novel and also allowed the author to drop several big reveals when least expected. Overall, I very much enjoyed this novel. 5 out of 5 stars.