Season of Storms by Susanna Kearsley

Season of Storms is my third Susanna Kearsley novel, and it was another good one.

During early 1900s Italy, playwright Galeazzo D'Ascanio, living at his villa Il Piascere writes a play for his love, actress Celia Sands. Only to have her disappear the night before the play's premiere.

In the modern day, another actress named Celia Sands (no relation to the first) is offered the part in the play written for Celia the first, a play that has yet to see the light of day. The play will be staged by D'Ascanio's grandson Alessandro, and will take place at the infamous Il Piacere.

At Il Piacere, Celia stays in the original Celia's room, and she can't help but think there's a few ghosts hanging about. And her restless dreams aren't helping, either.

In between rehearsals, Celia gets to know the others involved with the play, including Alessandro D'Ascanio, who is otherwise known as Alex. Alex is the quiet sort, but is obviously taken with Celia. However, there are some roadblocks preventing Celia from reciprocating.

There's a mystery going on, but it's not that big and only comes to light towards the end of the book. If it wasn't for my love of the theatre and for Italy, I can't say how much I would have liked Season of Storms. However, the characters were very engaging and the mysterious atmosphere of Il Piacere, which was located in the Lake District, was infectious.

Season of Storms was a very good and solid story, however The Winter Sea and Mariana remain my favorites.