Connie leaves London after the death of her husband to become a nurse/companion to William North, but it soon becomes clear he doesn't want her there. Her position in the castle was ambiguous as she wasn’t treated like the luxurious Evelyn or like the working servant women. The castle surrounded by lush Italian countryside and backed by the creepy Black Rock hill is beautifully evoked, as is the folklore surrounding the spot where local witches were killed. I don’t think anyone would be disappointed, but it’s best to come to the book without preconceptions of genre and be pleasantly surprised.

Without giving away too much of the plot - a plot I thought was cleverly managed and one that kept me reading avidly - I think it's worth noting that the novel's title isn't the most enlightening. Well written with deep, interesting characters and a complex plot and parties: and the parties thrown by the Manettis are so weird! If you are looking for an easy read with a twist, then Murder Under The Tuscan Sun won't disappoint.I have not read any Rachel Rhys novels before but will definitely do so as I found this easy to get into and one I did not want to put down. She feels the sadness within the castle especially with Nora who comes across as a strange child who is more or left to her own devices whilst her mother flits around the city with her new husband. There is a neglected young girl wandering the castle, and the housekeeper has her own history with the place. She has been on her own for a year although the reader gets glimpses that perhaps she was not always happy in her marriage and sad and grieving though she may be you sense there is a small element of freedom surrounding her. Evelyn is a strange character, brittle and moody whilst Roberto devotes himself to the fascist cause.

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.

Rachel's latest novel, Murder Under the Tuscan Sun is once again superb historical suspense crime, this time with an irresistible Italian 1920s setting.

It is 1927 and widowed Connie decides she needs to make changes in her life and leaves London to take on the role of companion to art dealer William North, the owner of a castle in the Tuscan countryside. It's notable too that this scene is set shortly after the Second World War and the main storyline examines lives irrevocably affected by the First World War – and with the shadow of fascism and all the horrors to follow looming over everything. 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. I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience. The story focuses on Connie Bowen, an English widow who – against her son’s wishes – seizes the opportunity to travel to Tuscany to be a companion for William North, an ailing man living in an art-filled castle.

What if something terrible happened on board that ship, amid all that unrest, all that enforced leisure, all those passengers who could not escape each other? She is widowed with an adult son and is still grieving a tragic loss which turned her world upside down. Though after a year as a widow and many more since she had a proper relationship with her late husband, it’s difficult not to be attracted. There are a number of scenes which made my heart ache for this little girl but for all her suffering, there's a story attached to the castle about another young girl which is too horrific to even contemplate.