If We Were Villains - 5th anniversary signed and illustrated edition

Signed deluxe hardback edition complete with ribbon and specially commissioned illustrations of the bestselling dark academia novel where tragedy strikes at an elite Shakespeare conservatory. A gorgeous 5th anniversary edition of the bestselling dark academia thriller complete with a brand-new cover, original illustrations and deluxe finishes. Oliver Marks has just served ten years for the murder of one of his closest friends - a murder he may or may not have committed.

On the day he's released, he's greeted by the detective who put him in prison. Detective Colborne is retiring, but before he does, he wants to know what really happened ten years ago. As a young actor studying Shakespeare at an elite arts conservatory, Oliver noticed that his talented classmates seem to play the same roles onstage and off - villain, hero, tyrant, temptress - though Oliver felt doomed to always be a secondary character in someone else's story.

But when the teachers change up the casting, a good-natured rivalry turns ugly, and the plays spill dangerously over into life. When tragedy strikes, one of the seven friends is found dead. The rest face their greatest acting challenge yet: convincing the police, and themselves, that they are blameless.