Last Night at Villa Lucia
by Simon McCleave
Pub Date: July 26, 2024
Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
Once you start reading, you won’t be able to stop until you’ve uncovered the shocking truth hidden within the walls of this seemingly perfect Tuscan villa. Fans of The Housemaid, T.M. Logan and Gone Girl will be utterly gripped by this addictive, twisty, psychological thriller from multimillion-copy bestselling author Simon McCleave.
The beautiful cover and intriguing blurb grabbed my attention, and the story pulled me in further. It was well-written and flowed at a fast pace.

The story revolves around Cerys, the alcoholic owner of Villa Lucia, a vacation getaway in Tuscany. She is trying to escape her past and forget her abusive ex-husband.
I enjoyed the story very much. The narrative alternates between Cerys' first-person perspective and the third-person perspectives of the other characters, incorporating flashbacks that illuminate the present. It deals with themes of alcoholism, toxic and abusive relationships, and controlling men. The characters were well-rounded and fleshed out. I liked some of them and disliked others. I didn't guess the identity of the culprit, so the reveal caught me by surprise. This one caught me on the first page! Excellent book!

Oh my gosh, this book was fantastic!! So many twists and turns, you never knew who did it until the very end! Kept me wanting to not put it down! Highly recommend!

Thank you to NetGalley and Storm Publishing for the ARC

A perfect summer thriller! A fast-paced and twisty thriller with lots of unreliable characters. I love unreliable narrators and here there were plenty. It was so good and full of twists I never saw coming. Truly riveting.

The setting is a lovely villa in Tuscany. The cast of characters include a woman with a drinking problem who owns the villa, her daughter, their paying guests (husband, wife and son), and the husband and wife who work at the villa. When one of the characters is found dead the story takes off. It's told with multiple narrators and the psychological disfunction is astounding. I must admit I felt that it fell apart a bit at the end but they did end up wrapping it up quite well.

Two families (three if you count Lucia and her husband), are intertwined at a villa in Tuscany. While I did enjoy this story, following the clues to see who murdered the one man, the other man's death was also tragic. Do not usually feel sorry for the bad people, but did feel a bit sorry for both of these men. While selfish and not nice men, they still had some redeeming qualities, so not just one dimensional characters. Would highly recommend this one, and would read more by this author.

Wow! What a fantastic who done it! so many twists and turns. A great cast of interesting characters. The author takes you to a beautiful Tuscan villa. As the mystery unfolds, everyone seems to be a suspect. Lots of character development. McCleave does a masterful job of wrapping the story without any loose ends.

Thank you for allowing me to review this book.

As the street date approaches, I will post reviews on amazon, review is live now on Goodreads. I will also post a video review on tiktok.

Scott Lovelace
33 Lovelace Ln
Humboldt TN 38343

Thank you NetGalley for the ebook in exchange for an honest review.

I reeally enjoyed pretty much everything about this. Setting, plot, characters, pacing, writing. Kept thinking I thought I knew where this was going but I was genuinely taken by surprise and enjoyed this till the very end. I was not expecting to give this a 5 stars when I started it.

My Rating :3 ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Tuscan Murderous Stars !!

Ohhh do I have a recommendation for you Bookpals !!

If you’re looking for a toxic classic murder mystery then Last Night at Villa Lucia is your next summer read !!

This book not only stole my time but I desperately want to travel to Tuscany even more after reading this , as the author did such a fantastic job of describing the atmosphere with the sights and scents of Tuscany !!

Read this if you like :
🍷 Classic Mystery’s
🍷 Settings set in Italian Villas
🍷 Multiple POV
🍷 Alternating timelines
🍷 Very unlike able characters
🍷 Murder

Chloe , Harry and their son Charlie have arrived at the beautiful Villa iAir BnB in Tuscany and already the tensions are high .

In comes the Air BnB Hosts Cery and her daughter Lowri with a warm welcome ( and maybe Cery’s is a bit too warm as she has her daily vodka buzz going that she is hiding from her daughter)

As we quickly learn all the characters are unstable and their lives are full of toxic abuse whether is the from a spouse or alcohol.

Then the first morning the guests wake up , yep you guessed it , they find a dead body floating in the pool 👀

Now we are taken on a whirlwind full mysterious twists that has the reader guessing to the very end …who is this secret killer ???


Will we ever find out ? Will you be next ?

This is a messy toxic read that is PERFECT for summer , that also shows us we may find comfort in the most unexpected ways and new friendships!

I really think fans of B.A.Paris and Rachel Hawkins will find this delightfully entertaining!!

**Trigger Warnings , Alcoholism, Rape and toxic abusive relationships **

Thank you so much NetGalley ,Storm Publishing and Simon McCleave for this entertaining digital ARC!!

Respectfully Another Read by Angie

Recently divorced Cerys thought buying a luxury Tuscan villa would be the fresh start she so desperately needed in Last Night at Villa Lucia by Simon McCleave. A year later, she's struggling to move on from the pain of her past. Determined to make Villa Lucia a success, she's pinned all her hopes on this season's guests. Until one of them is found murdered in the villa's infinity pool. 

Now, as the police descend on the property, the secrets of her guests begin to unravel, and Cerys is forced to confront her own demons.

Last Night at Villa Lucia is a fairly good read. It was sometimes hard to keep up with the changing timelines and multiple character perspectives. The story focuses on abusive relationships and substance abuse.

The characters were okay. It did have a surprising ending, which I really liked.

#LastNightatVillaLucia #NetGalley @Stormbooks_co

I couldn't really get into this, though I loved the setting and some of the characters.
For me, it tried too hard to be 'twisty' at times. Basically everyone is an unreliable narrator.

Last Night at Villa Lucia
Get Lit ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 💫 4.5/5

Last Night at Villa Lucia is a great whodunit that kept me on the edge of my seat from start to finish. Set in a picturesque villa in Tuscany, the story centers around a dysfunctional family on vacation. Adding to the drama is the villa’s owner, who lives on the property and struggles with a severe drinking problem.
Everyone is a suspect with a motive! Add this to your summer reading list!

I loved this book! It had so many dynamic factors in one: rape, violence, friendships, new relationships. Cerys owns a Villa that she rents out to make money. Harry (psychotic jerk) bring his wife, Zoe, and son, Charlie to the Villa for a vacation. Meanwhile, Cerys daughter, Lowri, is visiting her mother for a few weeks. Her mom is still dealing with a sexual assault, bad divorced, abusive ex, and an alcohol addiction. Charlie and Lowri bond as two new adults dealing with controlling fathers. Zoe and Cerys bond over two wives with abusive husbands. A body is found in the pool-the circumstances around that body mean ANY of these people could have been the killer. Great suspense. Great thriller with a happy ending as well!

This is the first book I've read by Simon McCleave but I will certainly read more! the story was really well told and kept me guessing until towards the end. The location sounded amazing but the characters and storyline were strong enough to work alongside the location, all in all a really well written and fun book x

Villa Lucia, a beautiful and serene vacation rental in Tuscany, is owned and managed by Cerys, an alcoholic pretending to family and friends that she is not one. Her daughter Lowri, an aspiring musician, is living with her for the summer. When the Collard family, Harry, Zoe and son Charlie, arrive for their villa vacation, you know there will be trouble. Harry is a pretentious boor and bully, Zoe is the long suffering wife and Charlie is the product of this dysfunctional family. He’s also attracted to Lowri. Cerys, fueled by water bottles filled with vodka, manages during the day but sharing wine with Zoe in the evenings dominated by Harry’s derogatory comments, only leads to trouble. When there is a perhaps accidental death at the villa, the suspects are too many to list. You may think you know who is guilty and who is not but you’ll be wrong. Very wrong.

Simon McCleave is a a master of character driven mystery combined with family drama. With Last Night at Villa Lucia, he has left Snowdonia behind for a warmer climate. He is just a successful with this standalone as he is with his Welsh series. I will read anything he writes. 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Storm Publishing and Simon McCleave for this ARC.

Cerys runs a holiday getaway in Tuscany called Villa Lucia. A family, Zoe, Harry and Charlie arrive for their holiday. One morning Cerys discovers a body floating facedown in her pool and she can't remember the previous night and what happened due to her drinking.
The storyline was fast paced and has you hooked from the start. It's clearly a who dunnit style and there are plenty of suspects all with their own demons and reasons. The characters were well portrayed even with their flaws and the dynamics between them all, their lives, keeps you interested. I enjoyed the different points of view from each character as well as the way it goes from past to present. It is easy to keep up with as well. It keeps you interested as you want to know what happened to the person found floating in the pool. It has themes of addiction, alcoholism, victimisation, abusive partners within the story.
Overall it was a great fast paced read that keeps you guessing until the end.

Thanks to Netgalley and the Publishers for an arc in exchange for an honest review

I really enjoyed this my first Simon McCleave novel. Based in Tuscany Cerys is trying to get her Villa Airbnb off the ground after her divorce from her controlling and abusive husband. Zoe, Harry and Charlie arrive for a holiday but Harry soon ends up dead in the infinity pool. There follows a clever story of twists and more twists until the killer is finally revealed. I will certainly read more of Simon's books if I get the chance and am happy to recommend Last Night at Villa Lucia to anyone who enjoys a good whodunit.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advance copy. All opinions are my own
opportunity to read an advance copy. All opinions are my own.

Last Night at Villa Lucia is the perfect summer read that has the pages turning quickly.

The setting is Tuscany in the beautiful picturesque Villa Lucia that is owned and operated as a vacation home by Cerys.

This weeks guests are Harry, Zoe and their son Charlie.

Harry is not the nicest man you ever want to meet and you cant help but feel bad for his wife and son.

Drinks are flowing.

When a body is discovered floating in the pool the suspect list is short..

They all have a motive including his wife and son not to mention the housekeeper and her husband.

Last Night at Villa Lucia is a fast paced read with twists and turns that keep the lights on.

I enjoyed the closed door mystery aspect to it and was supsicious of everyone.

Great read.

Thanks to NetGalley and Storm Publishing for a thrilling read.

Fantastic! A great read set in the glorious sunshine of Villa Lucia.
I found this book to have everything I look for in a destination thriller,
I loved the location and the back story of the villas owner with her
awful husband.
Highly recommend

Cerys and Lowri host guests at their villa - Zoe, her husband Harry and their son Charlie. A body is found floating face down in the villa's pool. Who is the victim and who wanted them dead?

While this was a fast-paced suspenseful read, it is also a story that has been told many times previously and I wish there was something different about the plot that would have made it stand out from other similar books I've read. I also didn't enjoy that most of the males were painted as violent and most of the females were depicted as victims.

"Last Night at Villa Lucia" by Simon McCleave is a compelling thriller set in Tuscany. The beautiful cover and intriguing blurb grabbed my attention, and the story pulled me in further. It was well-written and flowed at a fast pace.

The story revolves around Cerys, the alcoholic owner of Villa Lucia, a vacation getaway in Tuscany. She is trying to escape her past and forget her abusive ex-husband. Her daughter Lowri, an aspiring musician, is staying with her while deciding on her next move. The villa's caretakers, Lucia and her ex-Mafioso husband Lorenzo, add to the complexity of the setting. Guests at the villa include Zoe, Harry, and their son Charlie. When a body is found floating in the pool, the police suspect foul play. The victim was disliked by many, making everyone at the villa a suspect.

I enjoyed the story very much. The narrative alternates between Cerys' first-person perspective and the third-person perspectives of the other characters, incorporating flashbacks that illuminate the present. It deals with themes of alcoholism, toxic and abusive relationships, and controlling men. The characters were well-rounded and fleshed out. I liked some of them and disliked others. I didn't guess the identity of the culprit, so the reveal caught me by surprise.

I was sold on this one from the very first line. Good plotting, judiciously dropped clues, and twists make this a good read. The only thing I didn't like was the use of drugs by the young characters. Other than that, the storyline is easy to follow, and the author provides an excellent sense of setting. This was my first book by the author, but it will not be my last. I recommend it to those who enjoy thriller novels and reading about characters overcoming life struggles. It is the perfect summer read!

* Thank you NetGalley and (publisher) for the opportunity to read this arc. All opinions are my own.