The Savage Garden by Mark Mills

This was a book group book but I was really glad I read it, it's one of those books that inspires you, in my case to read Dante's Divine Comedy as this is the second text I've read that has its roots in Dante. An intriguing mystery sewing together distant past, recent past and present in the atmosphere of Tuscany

AZ: "A haunting tale of murder, love and innocence lost set in post-war Tuscany from the award winning author of 'The Whaleboat House'. Behind a villa in the heart of Tuscany lies a Renaissance garden of enchanting beauty. Its grottoes, pagan statues and classical inscriptions seem to have a secret life of their own -- and a secret message, too, for those with eyes to read it. Young scholar Adam Strickland is just such a person. Arriving in 1958, he finds the Docci family, their house and the unique garden as seductive as each other. But post-War Italy is still a strange, even dangerous place, and the Doccis have some dark skeletons hidden away which Adam finds himself compelled to investigate. Before this mysterious and beautiful summer ends, Adam will uncover two stories of love, revenge and murder, separated by 400 years! but is another tragedy about to be added to the villa's cursed past?"

The Whaleboat House by Mark Mills

The follow up to The Savage Garden, more thriller than mystery but equally well written, AZ: "enthralling literary crime novel set in post World War II Long Island. In the small town of Amagansett, perched on Long Island's windswept coast, generations have followed the same calling as their forefathers, fishing the dangerous Atlantic waters. Little has changed in the three centuries since white settlers drove the Montaukett Indians from the land. But for Conrad Labarde, a second-generation Basque immigrant recently returned from the Second World War, and his fellow fisherman Rollo Kemp, this stability is shattered when a beautiful New York socialite turns up dead in their nets. On the face of it, her death was accidental, but deputy police chief Tom Hollis -- an incomer from New York -- is convinced the truth lies in the intricate histories and family secrets of Amagansett's inhabitants. Meanwhile the enigmatic Labarde is pursuing his own investigation"