From New York Times bestselling author Rachel Hawkins comes a
deliciously wicked gothic suspense, set at an Italian villa with a dark
history, for fans of Lucy Foley and Ruth Ware.
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.
Inspired by Fleetwood Mac, the Manson murders, and the infamous summer
Percy and Mary Shelley spent with Lord Byron at a Lake Geneva
castle--the birthplace of Frankenstein--The Villa welcomes you into
its deadly legacy.
