Holiday reading?

Donna Leon's detective novels about Venice in which the city is a major performer. For Spain, try Caros Ruiz's The Shadow of the Wind, fascinating and mysterious.

Well, where do you fancy going and I guess we could suggest a few.

Cloths of Heaven for the Gambia by Sue Eckstein...Have just read The Lemon Grove for Mallorca (but can't say I go with the view that it is THE read for Summer 2014)...Secrets of the Sea House set in Harris....The Sea Sisters for exotic locations like Maui, Bali and West Coast USA...Cross Currents by John Shors on Ko Phi Phi Island, Thailand... (I'll stop now... )

Well, if you like Sicily, there are the Montalbano books [detective.]There is also a detective series set in Venice [can't remember the name though.]
Then there are the Lindsey Davis books set in ancient Rome [Falco, private detective.]As you notice, I like Italian things! If you like rural France there is George Simenon,[ Maigret ]books. I'm sure there are loads more, I will have a think.