The Italian Secret

A Novel

By Tara Moss

On Sale: 12/2/2025

#1 internationally bestselling author Tara Moss returns with an immersive post-war mystery as glamorous investigator Billie Walker follows a trail of secrets to Italy’s sun-drenched Neapolitan coast

Naples, 1943. Deep within a secret network of underground tunnels, a woman takes shelter from a wartime air raid and prays her husband will return home safe.

Pacific Ocean, 1907. A girl embarks on a lonely journey to begin a new life far from home.

Sydney, 1948. Billie Walker, recently returned from a stint as a wartime investigative journalist, has reopened her father’s private inquiry office. One day, Billie is cleaning out old filing cabinets when she uncovers a dusty box whose contents just might upend everything Billie thought she knew about her late, beloved father.

Soon Billie is on the scent, uncovering the secrets of her family’s past, travelling aboard the first post-war luxury passenger ship from Sydney to Naples in search of answers. And as the trail leads her toward two women whose history may be entwined with her own, she realizes she might be putting all three of them in harm’s way. Billie’s father had an enemy—one who may now be stalking Billie around the world—and the closer Billie gets to the truth, the more danger she finds herself in.

ISBN: 9781443461290
Imprint: HarperAvenue
On Sale: Dec 2, 2025
List price: $25.99
No of pages: 400
Trim Size: 4.710 in (w) x 7.170 in (h) x 1.040 in (d)
BISAC 1: FICTION / Mystery & Detective / Women Sleuths
BISAC 2: FICTION / Mystery & Detective / General
BISAC 3: FICTION / Historical / General

Tara Moss

Biography

Tara Rae Moss is the Canadian-born internationally bestselling author of 14 books of fiction and non-fiction, a podcast and documentary host, award-winning advocate and holistic practitioner.


Since 1999 she has written 14 bestselling books, published in 19 countries and 13 languages, including the internationally bestselling postwar historical crime novels The War Widow and The Ghosts of Paris, and her #1 non-fiction bestselling memoir The Fictional Woman. Her fifteenth book, The Italian Secret, launches in late 2025. 


An experienced documentary host and interviewer with a passion for research and human stories, Moss hosted the true crime documentary series Tough Nuts – Australia’s Hardest Criminals on Crime & Investigation Network and Amazon Prime, Tara Moss Investigates on the National Geographic Channel and the author interview show Tara in Conversation on 13th Street Universal. She was also the host, co-executive producer and co-writer of Cyberhate with Tara Moss on Australia’s ABC, host of the true crime podcast The Man in The Balaclava, and season three of the award-winning podcast There’s No Place Like Home, out now. She has interviewed luminaries such as Gloria Steinem, Naomi Klein, Val McDermid, Michael Connelly and more.


She is an outspoken advocate for human rights and the rights of women, children, and people living with chronic pain. She has been a UNICEF Australia Goodwill Ambassador since 2007 and in 2014 she was recognised for Outstanding Advocacy for her blog Manus Island: An insider’s report, which helped to break information to the public about the alleged murder of Reza Barati inside the Australian-run Manus Island Immigration Detention Centre. In 2018 she was named one of the Global Top 50 Diversity Figures in Public Life, along with Angelina Jolie, His Holiness The Dalai Lama and more.


Tara Rae is a dual Canadian/Australian citizen and divides her time between Sydney and her hometown of Victoria, BC, the unceded territory of the Lekwungen speaking Peoples, where she is a recipient of both the Order of Lambrick Park, and the Honorary Citizen Award, the highest formal honour awarded by the City of Victoria. 

 Visit her at TaraRaeMoss.com

 

TBD

#1 internationally bestselling author Tara Moss returns with an immersive post-war mystery as glamorous investigator Billie Walker follows a trail of secrets to Italy’s sun-drenched Neapolitan coast

Naples, 1943. Deep within a secret network of underground tunnels, a woman takes shelter from a wartime air raid and prays her husband will return home safe.

Pacific Ocean, 1907. A girl embarks on a lonely journey to begin a new life far from home.

Sydney, 1948. Billie Walker, recently returned from a stint as a wartime investigative journalist, has reopened her father’s private inquiry office. One day, Billie is cleaning out old filing cabinets when she uncovers a dusty box whose contents just might upend everything Billie thought she knew about her late, beloved father.

Soon Billie is on the scent, uncovering the secrets of her family’s past, travelling aboard the first post-war luxury passenger ship from Sydney to Naples in search of answers. And as the trail leads her toward two women whose history may be entwined with her own, she realizes she might be putting all three of them in harm’s way. Billie’s father had an enemy—one who may now be stalking Billie around the world—and the closer Billie gets to the truth, the more danger she finds herself in.

ISBN: 9781443461290
Imprint: HarperAvenue
On Sale: Dec 2, 2025
List price: $25.99
No of pages: 400
Trim Size: 4.710 in (w) x 7.170 in (h) x 1.040 in (d)
BISAC 1: FICTION / Mystery & Detective / Women Sleuths
BISAC 2: FICTION / Mystery & Detective / General
BISAC 3: FICTION / Historical / General

Tara Moss

Biography

Tara Rae Moss is the Canadian-born internationally bestselling author of 14 books of fiction and non-fiction, a podcast and documentary host, award-winning advocate and holistic practitioner.


Since 1999 she has written 14 bestselling books, published in 19 countries and 13 languages, including the internationally bestselling postwar historical crime novels The War Widow and The Ghosts of Paris, and her #1 non-fiction bestselling memoir The Fictional Woman. Her fifteenth book, The Italian Secret, launches in late 2025. 


An experienced documentary host and interviewer with a passion for research and human stories, Moss hosted the true crime documentary series Tough Nuts – Australia’s Hardest Criminals on Crime & Investigation Network and Amazon Prime, Tara Moss Investigates on the National Geographic Channel and the author interview show Tara in Conversation on 13th Street Universal. She was also the host, co-executive producer and co-writer of Cyberhate with Tara Moss on Australia’s ABC, host of the true crime podcast The Man in The Balaclava, and season three of the award-winning podcast There’s No Place Like Home, out now. She has interviewed luminaries such as Gloria Steinem, Naomi Klein, Val McDermid, Michael Connelly and more.


She is an outspoken advocate for human rights and the rights of women, children, and people living with chronic pain. She has been a UNICEF Australia Goodwill Ambassador since 2007 and in 2014 she was recognised for Outstanding Advocacy for her blog Manus Island: An insider’s report, which helped to break information to the public about the alleged murder of Reza Barati inside the Australian-run Manus Island Immigration Detention Centre. In 2018 she was named one of the Global Top 50 Diversity Figures in Public Life, along with Angelina Jolie, His Holiness The Dalai Lama and more.


Tara Rae is a dual Canadian/Australian citizen and divides her time between Sydney and her hometown of Victoria, BC, the unceded territory of the Lekwungen speaking Peoples, where she is a recipient of both the Order of Lambrick Park, and the Honorary Citizen Award, the highest formal honour awarded by the City of Victoria. 

 Visit her at TaraRaeMoss.com

 

TBD