Rose Fell's friends think she's taking a big risk when she leaves the security of home and career to move to the beautiful but isolated village of Grosso, near Genoa. But after a year of emotional turmoil Rose no longer has any ties back home, and she relishes the challenges of a new start. 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. But when a young girl's body is found on the local beach, and the following day Elvira's hardworking migrant cleaner, Ania, goes missing, Rose finds herself embroiled in a murder investigation that threatens the idyll she has worked so hard to establish.

2008-05-02 A thrilling read - atmospheric, intriguing and really exciting

I found this book at a villa we rented in Italy and once opened, I could not put it down.

This is a book for anyone who is fascinated by Italy and enjoys a tightly plotted thriller packed with careful detail and deft characterisation. Kent shows a real love of her subject and has great insight into the workings of Genovese life. The Summer House will delight and satisfy anyone who has visits Italy and wants to probe beneath the surface of this most beguiling of cultures.

Highly recommended.