We understand you’ve requested an interview with our family for a profile about our lives. Honestly, the Van Ness family generally decline the numerous amounts of media requests we get because we are much too busy to accommodate. But if you want more information about us, you can read last month’s cover story of Entrepreneur magazine, which profiled our sister Harper and her beauty and lifestyle company VNity, which has changed millions of women’s lives since it was launched. You can also check out the story Wine & Spirits did about our Finger Lakes winery and the success it’s had because of our beloved late mother Katrina Van Ness’s tireless efforts to cultivate that business in addition to the many other demands she had on her.

But whatever you do, please do NOT give any traffic to that trash gossip blog Van Nessity, which dedicates itself to pointing out all the flaws of our influential family. Does that blogger Kat Sparks not have anything better to do with her time than constantly harass us and post unflattering photos of Harper eating Cobb salads or discuss our youngest brother Zach’s choice of neckties? It’s just disgraceful.

So, no, we are sorry to not be able to talk with you for your little publication. We are much too busy prepping for the annual birthday weekend celebration at our winery estate, where the twins Richard and Harper will be celebrating their 35th birthday. Richard’s wife Elle has been planning it for months, and it’s sure to be a relaxing and much-deserved weekend retreat.

What’s that? Oh, yes. We also heard that a storm was brewing for that weekend, but we are sure it won’t ruin the festivities. We are positive that the one road in and out of the estate won’t flood, trapping us there. And we trust the caretakers of the house have remembered to close and lock the gates to prevent any uninvited guests from sneaking in.

It’s going to be wonderful.

Maybe you can try to get on one of our calendars next month? We might be much less busy then.

The Weekend Retreat
Genre: Domestic Thriller
Release: December 2023
Format: Print, Digital, Audio
Purchase Link

A wealthy family’s vacation at their lush winery estate becomes a weekend to kill for in this deliciously twisted novel of suspense.

Every year, the illustrious Van Ness siblings, heirs to a copper fortune, gather at their secluded winery estate for a joint birthday celebration. It’s a tradition they’ve followed nearly all their lives, and now they are back with their significant others for a much-needed weekend of rest and relaxation, away from the public spotlight.

With lavish comforts, gorgeous scenery, and indulgent drinking, the trip should be the perfect escape. But it soon becomes clear that even a remote idyllic getaway can’t keep out the problems simmering in each of their lives. As old tensions are reignited, the three couples are pushed to the edge. Will their secrets destroy them, or will they destroy each other first? And who’s been watching them from beyond the vineyard gates?

When a torrential rainstorm hits, plunging them into darkness, the answers prove all too deadly…

About the author
Tara Laskowski is the author of the suspense novels The Mother Next Door and One Night Gone, which won the Agatha Award, Macavity Award, and the Anthony Award. Her third novel The Weekend Retreat was recently published in December 2023. She also wrote two short story collections, Modern Manners for Your Inner Demons and Bystanders. She has won the Agatha Award and Thriller Award for her short fiction and was the longtime editor of the online flash fiction journal SmokeLong Quarterly. She lives in Virginia with her husband, crime writer Art Taylor, and their son Dashiell.