After Byron

What begins as a murder mystery ends as a rumination on the hazards of celebrity in this quaint epistolary novel steeped in the lore of Lord Byron and his scandalous exploits. Several years after Byron%E2%80%99s death in 1824, minor poet Claude Ingersoll, once Byron%E2%80%99s close friend, has earned a disreputable reputation for indulging in Byronic antics of his own. Claude%E2%80%99s mother-in-law hires barrister-in-training Gerald Marston to keep tabs on the poet, whom she blames for her daughter%E2%80%99s suspicious death; Marston complicates matters by falling in love with Diana Shelton, Ingersoll%E2%80%99s illegitimate daughter. In their travels from Italy to Claude%E2%80%99s English estate, Gerald and Diana uncover intimate details about Byron%E2%80%99s life, and as they look beyond the infidelities and sexual indiscretions that have contributed to his public discrediting, they realize that the murders he is rumored to have committed are likely just malicious gossip%E2%80%94proof, as Gerald observes, that "once one%E2%80%99s name has been tainted, one is fair game." Beim (Touring with Stalin) gives his tale a believable period texture by referring throughout to Gothic literature and incidents in Byron%E2%80%99s life. Claude is a likable rogue with old-fashioned swagger, and his adventures will appeal to readers of historical fiction. (Mar.)