The Vipers by Katy Hays

This is a pre-order title (available 27th March 2025)

On the glittering island of Capri, anything can be a mirage. But one thing is true: there’s nothing deadlier than a family with everything to lose…

The world was shocked by playwright Sarah Lingate’s death thirty years ago at an opulent,white-washed villa on the island of Capri. Absolved of the crime, the Lingate family maintains that what happened that night was a tragic accident.

And every July they return to Capri to prove it’s true. This time, Helen Lingate – sole heir to the family fortune – has a plan. Tightly controlled by her father, she enlists the help of the family assistant, Lorna Silva, to free herself from her family’s stranglehold on her life.

And yet, behind closed doors, the legendary Lingate family unity is at breaking point. Upon arrival at the villa in Capri, an anonymous gift awaits them: the necklace Sarah was wearing the night she died. In the aftermath, the paranoid, insular Lingates begin to unravel.

As the investigation into her mother’s death is reopened, Helen begins to lose trust in everyone around her: her controlling father Richard, drug-addled aunt Naomi, aloof uncle Marcus, and even Lorna, whose past she realizes is frustratingly opaque. And as the family fractures, the long-hidden truth about that night and the secrets they’ve kept from one another boil to the surface – and they might not leave the island alive.