If We Were Villains is the debut novel of American author M. L. Rio, first published in 2017 by Flatiron Books. The novel concerns a murder mystery surrounding Oliver Marks, a former actor at the fictional Dellecher Shakespeare conservatory and primarily takes place during his fourth and final year at the conservatory. A series adaptation of the novel is in development.
Plot
The evening before he is due to be released on parole after serving ten years for an unspecified crime, Oliver Marks is approached by the lead investigator on his case, Detective Colborne. Suspicious of the official story, Colborne announces his retirement from the police force and asks Oliver to finally tell him the truth. Oliver accepts but requests that Colborne not act upon what Oliver will tell him.
In 1997, Oliver is in his fourth and final year at the prestigious Dellecher Classical Conservatory, where he resides with his six classmates in a small dormitory called the Castle. As underperforming students are purged every year, the seven of them are the only fourth-year acting students remaining. The night before auditions for Julius Caesar, one of the students—Alexander—suggests that the auditions are pointless as all seven have been consistently typecast — the hero (James), the villain (Alexander), the tyrant (Richard), the temptress (Meredith), the ingénue (Wren), and the unlucky two consigned to bit parts (Oliver and Filippa). When they receive the cast, Alexander's predictions are revealed to be correct.
However, the situation changes at the annual Halloween performance, a select few scenes from Macbeth fourth year students traditionally perform each year. Each student is mailed an envelope containing their casting assignment and the scenes to prepare, as well as instructions not to share the information with any of their peers. Oliver is assigned the part of Banquo and is surprised to see James, rather than Richard, appear as Macbeth on Halloween night. After the show, the students throw a party during which a drunk and jealous Richard ends up attacking James, nearly drowning him in the lake where the play was staged. Richard reluctantly apologizes, and the group tries to brush off the assault. However, in the coming weeks, Richard grows more violent and begins to attack his fellow students, including his girlfriend Meredith, James, and Oliver, onstage during Caesar. Oliver, Alexander, and James decide to fight back during Caesar's death scene, which quickly spirals out of control. At the cast party, Richard punches a student who had been flirting with Meredith. He proceeds to call Meredith a slut and gets in a physical argument with her as well. Afterwards, Oliver seeks out Meredith to comfort her, and the two end up having sex.
The next morning, Oliver and Meredith are awoken by Filippa. She leads the group to the lake, where they find Richard with his skull broken. He is alive, but barely. James tries to help him, but is stopped by Alexander, who suggests they should let him die and thus end his reign of terror. The group agrees to wait for Richard to die, then call the police and pretend he was already dead when they came upon him.
The students are briefly questioned by the police, led by Detective Colborne, and Richard's death is ruled a drunken accident. Oliver returns home for Thanksgiving and learns his parents will not be paying for his final semester, though the school agrees to let him work part-time as a custodian to alleviate his tuition expenses. After the students return from break, they prepare to perform scenes from Romeo and Juliet, another tradition, at the Christmas masquerade ball. During the performance, Oliver discovers that James is in love with Wren. He becomes jealous and realizes that he is romantically attracted to James.
After Oliver visits Meredith over winter break, they grow closer and begin dating and sleeping together more often. When Oliver returns to Dellecher, he cleans the Castle as part of his new custodial duties, overhearing a visit from Detective Colborne and his partner, during which Colborne admits that, despite the official ruling, he does not believe Richard's death to be an accident. Afterwards, Oliver discovers a bloodstained piece of fabric in the fireplace and hides it among some discarded sets in the Fine Arts Building.