The Summer House

by Christobel Kent

Making a home, however, in the ravishing, haunted landscape of Italy's Riviera coast, turns out to be lonelier than Rose had anticipated. And it is only when she is asked to write a profile of one of her reclusive neighbours, the once-glamorous film star Elvira Vitale, that Rose feels her new life is really beginning.

Genres: Italy, Mystery, Crime, Fiction

Paperback

First published May 5, 2005

About the author

Christobel Kent was born in London in 1962 and now lives in Cambridge with her husband and four children; in between she lived in Florence. She worked in publishing for several years, most recently as Publicity Director at Andre Deutsch. Her debut novel A Party in San Niccolo, was published in 2003.

Series:
* Sandro Cellini

Reviews

[Caroline Wormsbecher-Hartsink · Rating 4 out of 5]

In het Nederlands gelezen. Goed uitgewerkte verhaal lijnen.

[Jeane · Rating 4 out of 5]

The summer house caught my attention not only because of the £2 stcker but because it takes place in Italy. Sometimes I am easy to please!
You know those books which are set in Italy, during summer, Italian love, past left abroad ..... very light stories but fun to read. Nothing more.
Apparently this wasn't that kind of story. Yes it is summer, there are some lives who are left behind in England and of course someone had to come from England to Italy to buy a house. But was was a suprise and really good is that there is a strong story under it and in some way this became a good crime story.

The story looks simple and maybe it is but the crame story mixed into it is strong and the rest of the story, the characters become strong in it too.

So a big suprise and a book which I enjoyed a lot!

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stayed up way too late reading this. I couldn't figure out which dark, mysterious man was the most evil until the end. It was a close race.

Loved that this story had a single woman uprooting herself from her home country to put down roots in a new country since I've done that and would love to do it again.

[Sue Corbett · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit slow to start but very atmospheric, good characters and plot well laid with a few twists. Is the detective Cirri, a character in other books? He should be,

[Tracy Clarkson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good book once it started to get going. A good slight twist.at.the end

[Jenny Machak · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this murder mystery set in a small town off the Italian Riviera. The characters are engaging the plot well developed.

[Kya Strong · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great atmospheric story.

[Stephen the Bookworm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Christobel Kent weaves beautiful imagery of Italian life and the darker side of human nature. This story exudes the heat and the impending frailties of people and pulls you in. A good escapist read .

[Colleen Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read. Enjoyable.

[Marie Bouteille · Rating 3 out of 5]

An easy, nice enough read set in Liguria, an intriguing plot

[Lance Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gives good references to Ligurian Coast of Italy. I read it while I was there.

[LindyLouMac · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another thriller with a realistic Italian background a different author though, but one I have read for the Italy in Books Challenge before back in February, A Party in San Niccolo

The story centres around Rose Fell a divorcee who left a secure job in journalism and family in London to move to a beautiful but isolated village in Italy near Genoa. After a year there she is still finding it a struggle to integrate, however when she is asked by a colleague from the UK if she can write an article about another local her life changes. At about the same time a young girl is found dead on a local beach and another young local woman disappears. Rose finds herself embroiled in this local mystery. Ania, the young woman that is missing was until the time of her disappearance working for the once famous model and film star Elvira Vitale that Rose is due to interview. Elvira and her younger British husband whom she no longer seems able to trust spend every summer in Italy and winters in the UK, hence the British press interest in the couple. The danger that is lurking closer than either of them realise throws these women together.

To repeat what I said about the last novel I read by this author, there is enough suspense skilfully built into the story that kept me turning the pages to make this a very quick and entertaining read.

For my full post please visit LindyLouMac's Book Reviews
http://lindyloumacbookreviews.blogspo...

[Lynne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the first of Mrs Kents I read, I picked it up fairly randomly in Fenham library and eally enjoyed it. It is a crime novel but not grisly or gruesome, it really drew me into the novel's world and held my attention right to the end. I asked the library to obtain all the other books she has written on the strength of this one.

[Meike · Rating 1 out of 5]

One of the worst books I ever read. I didn't like the charcters and the story was boooring. I spent last summer in Croatia and read roughly one book per day... this one took me nearly four days because I could hardly bring myself to picking it up again.

[Pinky · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book is set on the coast north of genova..well written and interesting,deals a lot in italies illegal alien problem..also a police procedural..i like the way she weaves in real life in her police stories

[Maureen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good beach read.

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the idea of taking off to a small Italian, or French village to live, but would never have the nerve, so reading about it is my way of pretending I did it.

[Heather]

Slow to start but soon picked up. Turned out a good read.

[Merilyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Took a while to get going but picked up pace about a third of the way in. A light mystery set in Italy.

[Signora · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unable to fully concentrate on reading, this was simple and mindless...

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

TOOK A WHILE BUT ENDED GREATLY