The tension in the castle really begins to pick up when Connie’s son arrives unexpectedly at the castle for a holiday, and he too notices that something strange is going on. A woman with nursing experience during the war, and with suffragette sympathies, Constance’s marriage was not a loving one and the loss of her daughter, leaving her with only her son James, now in his early 20’s, has left her looking for something to do with her life. Elements of the supernatural add to the psychological pressure and in the background, there is a legend of gothic horror which could come straight from straight from Edgar Allan Poe. This landscape is quickly overlooked by a feeling that things are not what they seem and this was very clever.

Constance finds herself in that strange position of not being a servant but not on par with the family who owns this huge castle and her interactions with the family highlight this. Evelyn’s eight-year-old daughter Nora from her first marriage is a stick-thin child with a crooked nose. I love Rachel Rhys and this is her best yet ― VERONICA HENRY --This text refers to the paperback edition. As the weeks roll on, I could see that Connie was beginning to feel that something not quite right was going on at the castle, and some of the inhabitants clearly showed that they didn’t like her being there. Instead, Rachel Rhys has woven a wonderful tapestry of a mystery with such subtle incidents occurring that bit by bit a twisted story starts to emerge.

She decides, against the wishes of her son James, to take up the post of caring for a man in Florence who has suffered a cerebral haemorrhage. 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. 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. When she arrives, she meets not only William but his niece Evelyn, her fascist husband Roberto and Evelyn’s somewhat neglected daughter Nora.

In a remote castle high up in the Tuscan hills secrets are simmering among its glamorous English residents:The ailing gentleman art-dealerHis dazzling nieceHer handsome Fascist husbandTheir neglected young daughterThe housekeeper who knows everythingand Connie, the English widow working for them. the characters were were interesting each adding a richness to the story and the descriptions of Tuscany were just right to recapture holidays spent in the Italian landscape. The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. It is not a difficult read, but it is very well done, be it the descriptions of the landscape and weather or the odd events that keep happening, with great pacing and the mounting sense of something amiss. A castle in Tuscany with secrets hidden in its walls, eerie music in the night, ghosts even, but are they real or a figment of Constance’s imagination?

I raced through it in a couple of days and recommend it to lovers of atmospheric historical mysteries with beautiful settings. It was an evocative read that places the reader deep within the story, you feel as if you can feel the heat of the Tuscan sun and hear the violins! For all the beauty of the countryside, there is a sinister air around the castle, exacerbated by the oppressive heat, and the backdrop of the rise of fascism within the country adds a layer of unease that is ever present.

Her debut, Dangerous Crossing, was a bestselling Richard and Judy Book Club pick and was followed by A Fatal Inheritance and Island of Secrets. As time passes you start to wonder whether events are real or if your mind is just playing tricks on you.Written as a first person narrative, the story is told by Constance Bowen, a woman whose husband has recently died. I would like to thank Netgalley and Random House UK, Transworld Publishers for an advance copy of Murder Under the Tuscan Sun, a stand-alone thriller mostly set in Tuscany in 1927. 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.