Michael Dibdin 
Rich Full Death 

A Rich Full Death is a novel of poetry, murder and intrigue. Young Bostonian Robert Booth manoeuvres an entree into the residence of Robert Browning and his wife Elizabeth in nineteenth-century Florence. 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… If you enjoyed A Rich Full Death you may also like The Last Sherlock Holmes Story, also by Michael Dibdin.