Michael Dibdin: A Rich Full Death (UK 1999)

From the Publisher:
Young Bostonian Robert Booth manoeuvres an entree into the Florentine residence of Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. When Mr Browning is called away, Booth follows him - and is brought to the village of his childhood sweetheart, who is now hanging by the neck from a tree in the garden.

Michael Dibdin: A Rich Full Death. Faber & Faber; ISBN: 0571150454 (July, 1999), 208 p., £5.99.

Michael Dibdin: A Rich Full Death (USA 1999)

From the Publisher:
Florence,1855. "The English are dying too much," the city's police chief observes. And members of the foreign community in this quaint Italian backwater, both English and American, are indeed dying at an alarming rate and in an extraordinary variety of ingenious and horrible ways.

With the local authorities out of their depth, the distinguished resident Robert Browning launches his own private investigation, aided and abetted by an expatriot Robert Booth. Unfortunately, their amateur sleuthing is hampered by the fact that each of their suspects becomes the next victim in a series of murders orchestrated by a killer with a taste for poetic justice. A Rich Full Death features characters both historical and imaginary, ranging from an enticing servant girl to Mr. Browning's consumptive, world-famous wife, Elizabeth Barrett, in a tale lush with period detail, intricately plotted, and with a truly astonishing final twist.

Michael Dibdin: A Rich Full Death. Vintage Books, ISBN: 0375706143 (June, 1999), 208 p., $12.00.