Review by Booklist Review
Julia is unmoored after her husband is killed in a mugging. So, when an Italian attorney contacts her regarding the mysterious inheritance of a villa near Florence, it feels like the universe is extending a hand. In Tuscany, Julia finds that her villa is time-worn, but the caretakers welcome her warmly, and she's hopeful that local investigators can discover possible connections between her benefactress and her private adoption as a child. Her Tuscan idyll darkens quickly, though: Julia has horrific ghostly nightmares, is followed by a pair of menacing toughs, and is terrified to find a child's prison cell hidden beneath the villa. When the local carabinieri's response feels like gaslighting, Julia relies on a new friend, handsome librarian Gianluca Moretti, to investigate the mysteries swirling around the villa and her past. Supernatural and gothic elements are light but suspenseful here, enveloped in the warmth of Tuscan food and new beginnings. Scottoline's latest (following The Truth about the Devlins, 2024) is evocative of the vintage gothic tales of Phyllis A. Whitney and Victoria Holt.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Edgar winner Scottoline (The Truth About the Devlins) delivers a pulpy paranormal gothic set in the Tuscan countryside. After Julia Pritzker's husband is murdered in their Philadelphia neighborhood, she receives a letter informing her she's inherited a €3 million estate in Chianti. Her benefactor is a stranger named Emilia Rossi, and Julia--who was adopted as an infant, and has no idea who her birth parents are--suspects the inheritance might point toward answers about her origins. As Julia settles into her Italian villa, she learns from her neighbors and new housekeeper that Emilia was a recluse (some say madwoman) who believed she was a descendent of the strong-willed 16th century duchess Caterina Sforza. Though Julia's not opposed to the occult, she's mostly embarrassed by Emilia's musings, until she starts sensing the duchess's presence wafting through the villa's corridors. As Julia scrambles to figure out what's going on with the help of handsome librarian Gianluca Moretti, she learns she may possess long-dormant supernatural abilities. Scottoline serves up plenty of Tuscan atmosphere for the armchair traveler, but her plotting is unfocused, with Julia's journey of self-discovery too tangled up in convoluted subplots to land. This is a mixed bag. Agent: Robert Gottlieb, Trident Media Group. (July)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Scottoline's latest links her great love of Italy with her long record of female-centered crime fiction. Julia Pritzker has a presentiment that something terrible is around the corner, but she never imagines just how terrible: When her husband, Philadelphia attorney Mike Shallette, tries to protect her from a man who grabs her designer bag, he gets stabbed to death before her eyes. Julia's grief becomes laced with guilt when she realizes that her daily horoscope had predicted a calamity she's now convinced she could have prevented. The news from Italian attorney Massimiliano Lombardi that his late client has left her millions in cash and an estate worth nearly as much again doesn't comfort her, but it does provide distraction--especially since she's never heard of Emilia Rossi and has no idea why she's been chosen as her heir. Since Julia, adopted at an early age by a couple who've been dead for years, wonders if Emilia might have been her biological grandmother, she travels to Chianti in hope of recovering some of Emilia's DNA. Unfortunately, caretakers Anna Mattia Vesta and Piero Fano have burned all of Emilia's clothing and personal items on her orders, so there's nothing left to test. Growing convinced that the stars are directing her and that her history is rooted in Emilia's decrepit house, Julia turns down repeated offers for the property and resolves to secure evidence confirming the relationship between Emilia and her. Now all she has to do is protect herself from the shadowy figures tracking and following her and recover from a series of vivid, hallucinatory nightmares that seem to be the cost of claiming her heritage. The mystery plot and the Italian idyl both play supporting roles in this fairy tale for grownups. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
