Murder Under the Tuscan Sun by Rachel Rhys

Book Blub

In a remote castle high up in the Tuscan hills secrets are simmering among its glamorous English residents:

The ailing gentleman art-dealer
His dazzling niece
Her handsome Fascist husband
Their neglected young daughter
The housekeeper who knows everything
and Connie, the English widow working for them.

Every night, Connie hears sinister noises and a terrible wailing inside the walls. Is she losing her grip on reality?

My Review
Having read previous books by Rachel Rhys I was really excited to be part of the blog tour for her new book Murder Under the Tuscan Sun. I have loved her previous books and with her new book set just outside Florence, my favourite place to visit, and in a castle with some wonderful art and the setting of 1927 this was a book I had to read.

What dawned on me as I was reading Murder Under the Tuscan Sun was that it reminded me of an Agatha Christie thriller, both in plot and the characters. There is the older Uncle, rich, an art expert, widowed and currently unwell. Then there is his niece Evelyn, young, beautiful, a social butterfly and newly married to the handsome Roberto. Evelyn’s eight year old daughter, who is awkward and neglected by her mother and Alina, the housekeeper who seems to have the weight of the world on her shoulders. Into this disfunctional family comes Constance Bowen, employed as a companion to William North, the Uncle. Consance is looking to spread her wings after the death of her husband and daughter but instead of flourishing under the Tuscan sun she seems to loose sight of herself, hearing noises, seeing things and starts to question her own sanity. This wonderful and eclectic cast of characters are not who they first seem.

Rachel Rhys’s writting and storytelling is beguiling. As soon as I started reading I was completely lost in the story, lives of the characters and of course the beautiful Tuscan landscape that I love so much. Whilst life at the castle at first seems quite glamorous and tranquil, with the characters enjoying la dolce vita after the War, Rachel Rhys soon starts to slowly drop in points of darkness that build up so there is an undercurrent of suspense and suspicion; no one is really who they seem, like an old painting as the varnish erodes the truth is revealed. I have a love of Florence and Tuscany and Rachel Rhys made me feel I was there with the characters; the warmth of sun, the lemon trees, the blooming flowers, the beautiful villas and the soft golden light that seems to touch everything in Tuscany. Then there is the castle itself, set in a beautiful landscape, but interestlingly seems more gothic, with it’s turrets and gargoyles than the usual Renaissance architecture, which suits the plot line with it’s darker undercurrent.

You can probably guess that I adored this book. The cast of characters and their back stories was fascinating, seeing them develop and change like the seasons in the book had me questioning who they really were. The setting was stunning and gave me wanderlust for the beautiful city of Florence, the heat and the architecture. There was suspense throughout, strange happenings and the feeling of ‘the other’ in true Agatha Christie style. Murder Under the Tuscan Sun is a marvelous mystery with a touch of malevolence and totally magnificent.

I’d like to thank Penguin Books and Anne Cater from Random Things Tours for the invitation to be part of this blog tour in return for my honest review.