The Villa
Rachel Hawkins
St Martin’s Press
Publication: 2023
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What if a house holds bad memories inside with the good? What does that mean for whoever lives there?

Houses remember.

The book’s setting is beautiful Orvieto, Umbria, Italy at the Villa Aestas (means summer in Latin). Emily “Em” Sheridan, author of a cozy mystery series, and her best friend, Chess Chandler, author and self-help guru, decide to spend the summer writing and recharging in the Italian villa. The Villa was previously known as the Villa Rosato Horror because of a brutal murder that took place on July 29, 1974, when Noel Gordona (rock star), Pierce Sheldon (an aspiring musician) and his girlfriend Mari Larchmont and her sister, Lara Larchmont are visiting. Also along is Johnny Dorchester, the drug dealer who travels all over with Noel Gordon and obviously supplies him with drugs.

The chapters move back and forth between current time and 1974. It starts with Em and Chase’s summer visit. They are both trying to finish books in their time at the Villa, but there are plenty of distractions and plenty of wine and Limincello. Em had googled the Villa before arriving and knew about the murderous background of the villa. While there, she finds a book called Lilith Rising (a horror story about women, power, and betrayal) that was written by Mari Larchmont in the summer of 1974. It inspires Em to dig deeper and to begin to write a nonfiction book based on the murder house. She is finding clues in Mari’s book that leads her to search for hidden manuscripts.

The second story—actually the first in 1974–centers on sex and drugs and rock ‘n roll. Relationships in the house are strained and realized which leads to a brutal murder.

There is so much more to this book, but I don’t want to spoil it for you. The one thing I will say is that Lara and Mari came to the Villa as muses and they were the ones who actually created art.

Highly recommend this book!
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Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the electronic advanced reader copy. These opinions are my own.