Murder Under the Tuscan Sun: A gripping classic suspense novel in the tradition of Agatha Christie set in a remote Tuscan castle

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Women and girls accused of witchcraft were murdered at a nearby beauty spot, so when she hears unearthly music in the dead of night she fears supernatural influences. The contrast between the increasingly unsettling events which occur here and the stunning location is beautifully realised throughout and I couldn't tear my eyes from the page. Then there is the castle itself, set in a beautiful landscape, but interestlingly seems more gothic, with it’s turrets and gargoyles than the usual Renaissance architecture, which suits the plot line with it’s darker undercurrent. The tantalising descriptions of the Tuscan landscapes were impressive and made me very jealous of Connie. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book as you see quickly drawn into the story and then you never want to leave these characters alone.

William North, the art expert she is employed to watch over while he recovers from a cerebral haemorrhage, is younger than she expected. 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. There are beautiful descriptions of the Tuscan countryside and we become involved with the plight of Constance trapped amongst these self-obsessed, privileged and thoughtless people.Then there is his niece Evelyn, young, beautiful, a social butterfly and newly married to the handsome Roberto. However, while he worries about what people might think of his mother taking up paid employment, it's clear to see that Connie feels unfulfilled and stultified by her life in Pinner. So when the position of companion to an invalid English gentleman living in a castle in Tuscany is advertised, she jumps at the chance of adventure.

The younger Connie of 1927 is actually a middle-aged woman who has experienced the worst life can throw at a person. I could really sense Nora’s growing attachment to Connie, and I was glad that Connie was there to look out for Nora, whose character really shines in this book. This is good as the reader gets to understand her mindset as she gets more and more unsure of her own mental state, the way her confidence starts to falter and the creeping sense of dread and fear that slowly overcome her. The Tuscan settings are beautifully described, I love Florence and it took me right back there, as are the local folk stories about witches.I read this in the run up to and during a holiday in Tuscany so I was able to have an immersive experience so to speak!

However her Italian adventure, at first so full of promise, soon leads to danger and she has to use all her inner resources to survive intact. The murder mystery in the story was slow building- I caught on about two thirds in what was going on although I didn’t get it completely right! In 1927 people were probably not indulged with what we would now regard as a mid-life crisis, this being a time of knuckle down and get on with it. 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. The story is inspired by a real diary which the author discovered by accident while helping her mother move house.

The author has a very distinct style of setting the scene, and this helped me read the book all the way to the end. It becomes evident that she was once the sort of person who rallied for change and had taken part in suffrage marches, but at nearly fifty, she seems to have almost stagnated and so it's perhaps not surprising that her son, James should be incredulous about her accepting a position as a companion for an invalided Englishman living in a castle near Florence. Things happen which cannot be explained and Constance finds that though she knows perfectly well that she is competent, nevertheless she begins to lose any confidence she has as strange occurrences, disappearances and odd happenings all seem to undermine her judgement. There is a sense of change in the air too, however, perhaps most chillingly personified by the apparently charming Roberto, who is in fact, a Fascist blackshirt. The storyline is split, starting with an introduction set in spring 1946, where we are introduced to a castle broken by war and then a continuation in the epilogue.

As the dynamic of the group shifts over the months of William’s illness, Connie is forced to confront the fact that things in the castle aren’t as they seem – and in fact are more immediately dangerous than the gathering political storm cloud. Whilst dealing with his daily needs, his correspondence and reading to him might not seem too appealing, he does live in a castle in Tuscany, which should enrich her time there. I thoroughly enjoyed Murder Under the Tuscan Sun, which tells a compelling story of life in an unsettling household.It was a book that I found myself racing through, just to find out what exactly was at the heart of all the strange happenings. My first Rachel Rhys, Dangerous Crossing, was inspired by a handprinted and photocopied journal I found while rummaging through my mum’s cupboards. 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. As a fan of mysteries set in the past, think Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh this definitely appealed to me.