As kids, Emily and Chess were inseparable. But by their 30s, their bond has been strained by the demands of their adult lives. So when Chess suggests a girls trip to Italy, Emily jumps at the chance to reconnect with her best friend.
Villa Aestas in Orvieto is a high-end holiday home now, but in 1974, it was known as Villa Rosato, and rented for the summer by a notorious rock star, Noel Gordon. In an attempt to reignite his creative spark, Noel invites up-and-coming musician, Pierce Sheldon to join him, as well as Pierce’s girlfriend, Mari, and her stepsister, Lara. But he also sets in motion a chain of events that leads to Mari writing one of the greatest horror novels of all time, Lara composing a platinum album, and ends in Pierce’s brutal murder.
As Emily digs into the villa’s complicated history, she begins to think there might be more to the story of that fateful summer in 1974. That perhaps Pierce’s murder wasn’t just a tale of sex, drugs, and rock & roll gone wrong, but that something more sinister might have occurred––and that there might be clues hidden in the now-iconic works that Mari and Lara left behind.
Yet the closer that Emily gets to the truth, the more tension she feels developing between her and Chess. As secrets from the past come to light, equally dangerous betrayals from the present also emerge––and it begins to look like the villa will claim another victim before the summer ends.
The Villa by Rachel Hawkins was published January 2023 by St. Martin's Press.
I picked this one for our bookclub in September. For the first decade of her publishing career, Hawkins was writing in the young adult space (both romance and fantasy). In 2021, though she published her first adult mystery novel. This would be her third in that genre.
What hooked me right out of the gate is that the book is about writers (Emily, Chess, Mari), and I like how Hawkins incorporates the craft into this story. It kept me very engaged. The use of song and story excerpts as well as other elements are used effectively here to tie together the events of 1974 and the modern day.
The story certainly has some twists and turns. Not sure I vibed with all of them. Also, this is very much hard pressed to be labeled a "mystery". We'll see how my group like it as we tend to go with more traditional mysteries or at least thrillers for the club.
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