Released January 3, 2023 from St. Martin’s Press
The Villa a wonderfully twisty mystery about female friendship and the creation of art, and my favourite Rachel Hawkins novel so far.
Curl up with some wine and a Carole King album, you’ll be reading this in one sitting.
The Villa is a mystery in two time periods. Present-day childhood friends Chess and Emily are staying at an Italian villa, each working on their own writing (Emily writes cozy mysteries, and Chess is a self-help guru). In the 1970s, Mari and Lara are stepsisters staying at the same villa with their rock star sort-of boyfriends, discovering their own art (Mari is a horror writer, and Lara a songwriter).
The mysteries intertwine, of course.
I was immediately drawn to Emily’s voice and her love-hate relationship with Chess. I expected this one to be a typical woman vs. woman thriller but it wound up being so much more complex and thoughtful than that.
Hawkins had a lot to say about how female artists are dismissed and pitted against each other. At the same time, The Villa is also a quick, breezy read that took me zero effort to glide through. Loved it.
🌟🌟🌟🌟1/2
Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for my review copy of this novel.
Leanne Olson 
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