Villa Ferrara

VILLA FERRARA A Murder Mystery in the Italian Countryside

When travel writer Cecily Marsh arrives at a sun-drenched Tuscan vineyard to research a magazine piece, she expects good wine, golden hills, and a week of uncomplicated beauty. What she gets instead is a dead body, a villa full of suspects, and the growing suspicion that absolutely nothing about this situation is what it appears to be.

The victim is Marco Ferrara — charming, magnetic, beloved owner of the Ferrara estate and its celebrated vineyards. The suspects are considerable: a composed and dangerous ex-wife, a flamboyant old rival searching desperately for something he won't explain, a business partner who arrived two days early and has been behaving suspiciously ever since, and a goddaughter whose inheritance may be the motive for everything.

The investigating officer is Commissario Bruno Sartori, who has been policing this corner of Tuscany for thirty years and finds Cecily professionally obstructive and personally suspicious — both of which are, he will reluctantly admit, not entirely wrong.

And somewhere in the villa, something is being hidden.

Sharp, sun-warmed, and wickedly plotted, Villa Ferrara is a beach read murder mystery in the tradition of the great golden age whodunit — full of red herrings, ensemble comedy, and the particular pleasure of a mystery that plays completely fair with its reader. Every clue is planted. Every character is hiding something. And the truth, when it arrives, is simultaneously a complete surprise and the only thing it could possibly have been.

Set against the breathtaking backdrop of the Tuscan hills, with a cast of characters you will alternately suspect and adore, Villa Ferrara is a novel about wine, inheritance, the complicated mathematics of old friendships, and what it means to build something worth protecting — and what happens when the people you trust most turn out to be the ones you should have been watching all along.

Perfect for fans of Richard Osman, Alexander McCall Smith, and anyone who has ever wanted to solve a murder in Italy with a glass of very good Sangiovese.