Reviewed by Emma Crowley
An isolated castle, a deadly crime. Is this real or a nightmare?
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?
Or does someone in the castle want her gone?
Many thanks to Random House UK via NetGalley for my copy of Under the Tuscan Sun to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
Murder Under the Tuscan Sun is the brand new sinister and tantalising mystery from Rachel Rhys. Set during the late 1920’s in a castle in the Tuscan hills near Florence, this is a slow burner which sucks you in and builds to a crescendo of revelations. Constance (Connie) Bowen is an English widow who accepts a job in Italy as companion to an invalid. 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. Of wanting to try and experience new things. Connie’s son James is not happy with her decision but she needs to do something for herself. To remove herself from her mundane existence in England and the shadows that still haunt her connected to the death of her daughter Millie several years ago. As Connie arrives in Italy, little does she realise the job she has signed up will provide her with a lot more mysterious, disturbing and unsettling goings on than she could ever have hoped for.
William North is a respected art connoisseur who has suffered a brain injury and needs assistance. He resides in the castle with his niece Evelyn Manetti, her husband Roberto and Nora, her young daughter from a previous relationship. As Connie settles into her new routine, the setting of the castle and the surrounding countryside come alive. The reader gets a real sense for the food, the climate, the architecture and the artworks. She explores the castle and its grounds but Connie just can’t shake off the feeling that there is a lot left unspoken and that the residents are all hiding something. Connie and William do not get off to a good start.He views her with disdain and I suppose this was because he was suffering but felt he didn’t need someone to look after him rather that he craved the independence that he once had. William is not old and decrepit but in fact is only in his mid 50’s. He has suffered tragedy in his life having lost his wife and son. He is brusque and offhand with Connie and she feels she can’t do anything right but she persists in assisting him through keeping him company, reading to him, writing correspondence and administering medication as recommended by the visiting doctor.
The story is told through Connie’s point of view for the entire length of the book and this does work very well. We see her unease and at times growing confusion as strange things start to occur. Incidents which she can’t provide a reasonable explanation for. 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. Although when Connie spots Roberto with some Fascists she is aghast that he is apparently on their side. Nora is lonely and needs guidance as her mother dismisses her as being rather an inconvenience as opposed to someone to love, cherish and nurture. But Nora is watchful, odd but endearing and maybe she sees and remembers an awful lot more than she is given credit for. Connie strikes up a friendship with her as I felt she did with William the further the book progressed. But William is a closed book and as his health begins to deteriorate despite the best care afforded by Connie he becomes more angry, incapacitated and unable to communicate properly. They do develop a tentative connection of sorts but as things turn against Connie she feels as if she is in a desperate situation which is rapidly spiralling out of her control.
Connie starts to feels as if the walls are closing in on her and that she is not the right person for the job. The castle and its residents seem to be turning against her. At some points she starts to think is she losing her mind as she knows she has done such a thing correctly or placed something somewhere and then it turns out to be the opposite. She is making mistakes that she would never have made before and not sleeping as she hears unusual sounds echoing throughout the castle. Sounds which no one else seems to hear. I never thought Connie was losing her mind but rather that there were sinister forces at work and this led to a feeling of mistrust regarding every character. I started not to take any statement or event at face value rather that I had to dig deeper and try and suss out the meaning behind it.
I will admit given the title I was constantly waiting for a murder to occur. With each turn of the page I expected to find a character dead and then the discovering of who did it was set in motion. This didn’t occur and I didn’t think I would ever say this but I wasn’t let down that this did not occur in the traditional format of a mystery/crime book. 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. I never guessed as to who was the culprit and the reasons for it and I found myself racing through the final few chapters as things came to a head. They were tense and action packed, real edge of your seat stuff with your mouth agape at what was unfolding. That’s the way a good mystery should be you’re left guessing until the last possible moment. Delighted if you have guessed correctly as to what is going on but equally satisfied when the wool has been pulled over your eyes.
I had adored A Dangerous Crossing by Rachel Rhys but found that Island of Secrets didn’t have me as gripped but with Murder Under a Tuscan I believe the author has returned to her earlier form and this was an excellent and gripping read which provided the reader with the perfect ending. More like this in the future please as it was a pleasure to read.
Thanks for the blog tour support x
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