1855 in Florence, Italy –
An area nicked-named “paradise of exiles” is currently dealing with an unusually high number of deaths. Six murders in the expat neighbourhood with no solutions.

The story is told in the form of letters from one Robert Booth, from America, to his friend Professor Prescott.

Booth has managed to get accepted into the social circle of Robert Browning (yes, the poet) and is considered a friend by Browning. When Browning takes it upon himself to investigate the first murder, Booth partners to help.

The first murder victim is a woman Booth was deeply in love with sometime back, so he feels he should help Browning. Five more murders occur and the investigations continue.

The plot is a bit tricky to follow, but reading it you feel you are back in that period. Characters, descriptions and events are well written. Great for readers who enjoy period writings of this era.

The solution is a read head turner! ( )

I did not expect the ending. I'm angry at the narrator, who could have created any imaginary life that he wanted and chose to see himself as a clever murderer. ( )

The story is told in epistolary format, which seems awkward, but is essential to the plot. The protagonist and letter-writer, Robert Booth, is a failed jack-of-some-trades and master of nothing but indolent living on his father's allowance in Florence, Italy. In 1855, the celebrated poets Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning are also residents.
In a Series of Unfortunate Events involving several gruesome murders of persons known to both Roberts (Elizabeth is pretty much set-dressing furniture for this story), they become acquainted and cooperate in tracking down the Fiendish Killer. Booth aspires to be Browning's Boswell (and somewhat of a Watson), but his hopes are alternately raised and dashed.

Dibdin writes engagingly, his descriptions of mid-nineteenth-century Florence and the British expatriate community are interesting, and his characters are well drawn. I do not know enough of Browning or his works to comment on the use of his name and poems in the book. The plot is well-laid and the murders quite ingeniously committed.

OK, so maybe Dibdin is too literary a figure to steal from the script of the 1980s TV show "Dallas," but it sure feels like he did. The ending twist is not signaled, but an alert reader might have spotted the clues. ( )

I quite enjoyed this book set in Florence in 1855. Dibdin evokes the expat community that lived there until, as the police chief in the book says "The English are dying too much." Among the English living there were Robert Browning and his wife Elizabeth Barrett Browning. There were also quite a few Americans living there including the narrator Robert Booth who can live in quite a good style on the pittance his father gives him.

Robert Booth tells the story by writing to his friend Prescott. A mutual acquaintance Isabel Eakin has died. Apparently both men were in love with Isabel but she married a rich man. The couple came to Florence and rented a villa just outside of town. Booth is actually visiting the Brownings when word comes summoning Browning to the villa. Recognizing the address Browning gives to the cab driver Booth follows him. He enters the grounds through the garden where he spies the body of Isabel hanging from a tree. At first glance it would seem like Isabel hung herself but Browning determines from the placement of a table and other clues that she was murdered. Browning enlists Booth to help him solve the murder because he thinks that the police will conclude it was suicide. As Browning and Booth pursue their investigations other people end up dead and the pair discover that there are always mysterious messages somewhere near the bodies. Can they solve the clues and catch the murderer before more people die? There is a surprise ending which I truly did not see coming.

Dibdin lived in Italy for some years before returning to the US. He has a facility for describing the buildings, weather and people which made me almost see them. There are numerous references to Dante and his works, particularly Inferno. At times like this I wish I had a more classical education so that I could understand the references. ( )

Huh?? I'm not sure I understand the point of this one. I liked the premise and the use of Robert Browning as a character. I also liked the use of Dante's Inferno. What I didn't like was how contrived this whole tale turned out to be. ( )