Rachel Hawkins‘ new book is all over socia media already, and with pretty good reason. The teal and yellow cover is striking and the content is pretty intriguing as well.

The Villa has a lot going on. There is the modern storyline of two writer friends(-ish) going to Italy to spend a summer writing together in a villa with an infamous past. Emily has been struggling lately with a mystery illness, a divorce, and she’s late for her deadline, but she hopes spending time with Chess will help her snap out of it. But she finds the house’s history to be more intriguing than her cozy mystery series.

We also get glimpses of what led up to the murder in 1974. We follow Mari as she goes to the house with her muscian boyfriend, her stepsister (who hooked up with her boyfriend previously), a famous rock star, and a guy who really wants to play with the rockstar. It’s the 70’s, so the murder gets billed as ‘sex, drugs, and rock n roll gone too far’. Mari’s take is accompanied by news articles and sections of books written about the brutal crime.

And, to make things more complicated, we get snippets of the art created during the murder summer. Mari wrote a bestselling horror book, and her stepsister Laura wrote a popular album. But Emily starts to think there could be some clues about what really happened hidden in the two women’s art and maybe, the house.

There’s a lot going on here, and it was a little confusing at first trying to get names and relationships down, especially since some are pretty messy. But, the story itself was pretty engaging and I blew through The Villa in one sitting. It definitely has some Amanda Knox vibes, so if you’re into that, this will hook you. Maybe call it Amanda Knox meets Daisy Jones and the Six.

Note: I can receive compensation for qualifying purchases through links on this site.