Soon after the Pargeters lease a villa near a small Tuscan town, their conscientious landlord mysteriously disappears. Puzzling questions quickly emerge: Why are the neighbors evasive about his whereabouts? How was their pool suddenly drained? Was his death really a suicide?
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Bossily capable Molly Pargeter--devoted to Italian Renaissance art and amateur sleuthing--drags her reluctant family to a Tuscan villa. "Although the momentum falters slightly midway, Mortimer's seemingly effortless command of his craft makes this combination of well-plotted mystery and lightly barbed comedy a compelling pleasure," concluded PW.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
COMPLEX, PLENTY OF LOCAL COLOR,
By A Customer
This review is from: Summer's Lease (Paperback)
The Amazon.com synopsis does not do justice to this book by wonderful writer John Mortimer. If you have been to Tuscany, or merely wish you had, the details of the Tuscan landscape and the villa La Felicita make you drool with envy. The family members are all vividly characterized - you can only wonder how the grandfather has avoided being the victim of a homicide during his 77 years, You are halfway through the novel before you realize that although you sympathize with Molly, the heroine, you don't particularily like her - and why is that, I wonder? Sorry to have finished the book- it will be difficult to find another novel which so neatly captures the Ex-Patriate British scene in Italy - and a mystery to boot!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"I don't suppose you have ever killed anyone, have you?",
By
This review is from: Summer's Lease (Paperback)
When Molly Pargeter and her family--her husband, father, and three daughters--take a summer lease for La Felicita, an ironically named Tuscan villa in Mondano, Italy, she is curious about the owners. The owners have, after all, specified that they prefer a married couple with three children, preferably all girls, though Molly can't imagine why. The house comes with instructions and both a supervisor ("Mr. Fixit") and a housekeeper, both of whom Molly finds mysterious, and when the water disappears from the swimming pool and has to be replaced at exorbitant cost, she begins to wonder who has the water "concession" for the area.As the family works its way into the society of other expatriates and Italian gentry in "Chianti-shire," the reader learns that Molly's husband may be unfaithful, that her father still regards himself as a great roué who hopes to make connections with a now-wealthy former flame, and that the local residents seem determined to prevent her from finding out information about the Ketterings, her landlords. With too little to do and an immense curiosity, Molly determines to find out all the secrets. The death of Mr. Fixit, found dead in an empty swimming pool, adds a sense of mystery, and Molly's discoveries about the Ketterings convince her even more strongly that there are hidden crimes behind the seemingly innocent façade of Mondano. John Mortimer's wry satire of British life and society combines with his ironic humor as he shows Molly to be a meddlesome, if well-intentioned, woman. His insight into the contrasts between her British mores and those of her Italian neighbors adds color to the novel and shows the Italians to be far more pragmatic than the overly "polite" society of the expatriates. The questions about the death of Mr. Fixit and the disappearance of Mr. Kettering grow, and Molly's pursuit of answers to questions which are none of her business leads to a dramatic, if somewhat enigmatic conclusion. Molly and her family are not characters the reader cares much about, however, and this novel does not achieve the level of black humor which readers have come to expect from Mortimer. Light, satiric, and filled with local color, it is fun to read, however, and the conclusion may keep the reader pondering beyond the end of the novel. n Mary Whipple The Summer of a Dormouse Felix in the Underworld Murderers and Other Friends Rumpole's Return Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders (Penguin Celebrations)
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