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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN num: 9781569474822
ISBN number: 1569474826
Label: Soho Crime
Manufacturer: Soho Crime
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 220
Printing Date: December 01, 2007
Publishing house: Soho Crime
Sale Popularity Level: 48741
Studio: Soho Crime
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Praise for the Marshal Guarnaccia series:
'This elegant series, which began in 1981 with Death of an Englishman . . . is set in Florence, a city that glows in the Tuscan sun. . . . [His] sense of estrangement accounts for Guarnaccia's special perspective on strangers, those innocents' among the living and the dead.'-The New York Times Book Review
'Lean, elegant prose that surpasses the best of Simenon, along with a puckish view of the Florentines from Guarnaccia's Sicilian perspective.'-Kirkus Reviews
'The richest mystery here, however, is Florence itself, whose intricate politics and class structure Nabb parses with precision and wit.'-The Washington Post
'Great local atmosphere and rich characterizations.'-Publishing houses Weekly
'A superb series. . . . A working-man's Maigret.'-Booklist
'Crime fiction at its best.'-The Sunday Times (London)
'Guarnaccia's Florence is a delightful place to visit.'-Mystery Scene
Summoned by an aged woman to investigate mysterious noises in the vacant flat subsequent to hers, Marshal Guarnaccia discovers a dying Dutch jeweler. The old lady had known him when he was a boy growing up in Florence. Could he have returned to the family home just to commit suicide? Or could the man be the victim of a cunning murderer?
Magdalen Nabb was born in Lancashire. She has lived in Florence since 1975 and has written twelve Marshal Guarnaccia mysteries. This is the second in the series.
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Rated by buyers 
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Perhaps if this wasn't the very first Marshal Guarnaccia book I read, I'd compare it to others Magdalen Nabb has written (a dozen, so far). But as a first-time reader, I kept thinking about Simenon's Inspector Maigret, and so, using that as a template: The scenic environs--Florence here, rather than Paris; Italy, not France--provide a similar kind of pleasure; a trip abroad to a different culture. And with similarly intense protagonists. The reader can feel confident that no matter the mystery, both the Chief Inspector and the Marshal, with their dedication to duty and their native acuity, will inevitably solve the crime.
But the Marshal is a notch above those he can dispatch within the Pitti station (despite the authoritative capped M), and is lower on the police pecking order than the Lieutenant, the Magistrate, and other capped officials in the Italian police bureaucracy. Unlike Inspector Maigret, in his roost at Quai des Orfevres (headquarters, not a mere police station), there's a self-effacing quality to the Marshal. In fact, he's in Florence from the south (earning money to send home), and so the reader gets a taste of the Italian north-south dichotomy. It's thus fitting that unlike Maigret, he is not supremely self-confident, but rather, self-effacing, often doubting his own abilities.
The writing is good, with a smooth flow from description to dialogue, from recollected past to physical present. And both authors present, through their protagonists, a keen observation of details. What for me most separates Simenon and Nabb--though admittedly I'm contrasting this one book to the dozens of Maigrets I've read--is the intricacy of the mysteries themselves. Simenon is less interested in the unraveling than in his characters, and though this leads to an occasionally flaccid story, it gives him more leeway for psychological exploration. Nabb sticks closer to the objective details, and dwells less on motive. I Think, Therefore Who Am I?
Rated by buyers -
First Sentence: `Signora Giusti!' protested Lorenzini, holding the receiver away from his ear and throwing open his free hand in despair.
An elderly woman is known for calling the carabiniere station to complain. This time Marshall Salva Guarnaccia agrees to go in person. She heard an argument in the subsequent door apartment, then silence. After talking with her for awhile, and learning she has keys to the apartment in question, he agrees to investigate, only to find a young man at the point of death, whose dying whisper is "It wasn't her."
Nabb doesn't provide as strong a sense of place as some writers; her style reminds me more of someone so familiar with a place, they forget its significance.
Where she does excel is with her characters and observations of people--the elderly woman afraid of dying alone, the blind man who can "see" through his other senses, the other policemen who work with the Marshall--these are all brought vividly to life.
Marshall Guarnaccia is a wonderful character. He is a Sicilian stationed in Florence living without his wife and sons, as they are caring for his incapacitated mother. Because of that, he lives at the station barracks. He is dedicated, empathetic and caring, with subtle humor.
Although this is only the second book in the series, as well as the second I've read, I've learned a bit more about the character with each book, and it makes me want to continue to learn more still.
My criticisms are that there was an incidence of foreshadowing, which was irritating and unnecessary, and the conclusion was definitely unusual and a bit odd.
I only recently discovered Nabb's Guarnaccia series, am loving it and delighted to know I've many more books in the series ahead of me.
Rated by buyers 
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In an apartment subsequent door to his own flat in Piazza Santo Spirito, Florentine carabinieri Marshal Salvatore Guarnaccia finds his jeweler neighbor dying in what looks like a suicide due to his slashed hands. However, Salvatore listening to the Dutchman's last words and becomes confused when he whispers "It wasn't her". Besides wondering who is her, Salvatore knows there is not slightest evidence of foul play; not even a bruise on the dead goldsmith except for what seems like self induced cuts. Yet his gut tells him a homicide occurred.
The Florence Marshal learns that the autopsy revealed the deceased died from a barbiturate overdose, which along with the slashed hands supports the suicide belief. As his superiors tell him to drop the case, Salvatore refuses although so far he has found no proof to hint at murder except the words of a nonagenarian with no credibility and a blind person.
The second of the Marshal Guarnaccia Italian police procedural (see Death of an Englishman) is a terrific tale as the obstinate Marshal refuses to quit a case that seems to be going nowhere. Readers will feel they accompany the sleuth as he seeks clues in hot touristy Florence. A few twists enhance a fine investigative tale in which it appears the protagonist has no reason to suspect murder except the growl of his stomach insisting a homicide happened subsequent door.
Harriet Klausner
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