Review: The Villa in Italy by Elizabeth Edmondson

The Villa in Italy by Elizabeth Edmondson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When I read the short biography of Elizabeth Edmondson on the website of the International Thriller Writers, I was intrigued enough to go online and download four of her books. I expected from the titles they would be rather run-of-the mill romantic suspense set in exotic locales. Far from it!

Edmondson writes “retro” books. They are set in the 1930’s 40’s and 50’s. They capture that period of recent history so authentically that, half way through The Villa in Italy, I looked back to see what the publication date was. (It was 2006). Even then, I wondered if it was something she had kept in the back of a drawer for 65 years. Not so. This is what Edmondson writes. And she does so brilliantly. Her writing puts me in mind of Nevil Shute’s incredible post-WWII novels.

You will need a score board to keep track of her principal characters, (an opera singer, a writer, an atomic scientist, a banker and a young socialite running away from her husband) all of whom are stuck together at a villa in Italy for 33 days. There are a host of important minor characters as well.

Even the romantic ending of this book is true to the period. If you want an unusual trip back in time, with interesting characters, a beautiful setting and a mystery to be solved, I highly recommend The Villa in Italy.


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Blair McDowell's latest Romantic Suspense takes readers to Italy's  beautiful Amalfi Coast.

"Adamo and Eve are two people who have both been through their own versions of hell. They are both certain that they are not ready to enter into a relationship, but love finds them anyway. Then it takes them on the non-stop thrill ride of their lives."

-      -   Marlene Harris, readingitall.com

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When Eve Anderson meets Adamo de Leone on a ship bound for Europe, she has no idea of the dark secret that will endanger both their lives. She accompanies him to his home on Italy’s Amalfi Coast to open an inn left to him by his grandfather. But then she learns he spent 5 years in prison for a crime he claims he didn’t commit. Could the man she loves be responsible for embezzling eighty million dollars from the investment firm he once owned?

Adamo wants to hold Eve at arm’s length until he can clear his proud family name. But when there is an attempt on his life and Eve is terrorized by a gun-bearing thug, he realizes how much he wants her, and he must accept whatever help he can get to uncover the well-hidden trail of a six-year-old crime.