If We Were Villains

by M. L. Rio · 2017

Oliver Marks has just served ten years in jail for a murder he may or may not have committed. On the day of his release, the detective who put him behind bars, Detective Colborne, arrives to demand the truth before he retires. The story flashes back to Oliver’s time at the Dellecher Classical Conservatory, an elite arts college where seven talented students study Shakespeare. Onstage and off, they inhabit the same archetypes—hero, villain, tyrant, temptress, ingénue, extra—until shifting power dynamics and rivalries turn deadly on opening night, leaving one of them dead. The surviving friends must convince the police, each other, and themselves of their innocence, blurring the line between performance and reality. A dark, atmospheric tale of obsession, loyalty, betrayal, and the dangerous allure of art.