Some Bitter Taste : A Marshal Guarnaccia Mystery - Hardcover

Nabb, Magdalen

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0434010545 ISBN 13: 9780434010547

Publisher: Soho Press, Incorporated, 2002

Synopsis

When it comes to motives for crime, the past can never be forgotten. Sara Hirsch is a nervous elderly spinster who still lives in the flat in Florence in which she was raised. Frightened, she calls Marshal Guarnaccia for help, sure that strangers have been in her apartment. The marshal knows she is a lonely and frightened old woman but he is preoccupied with an investigation into an Albanian prostitution ring. Before he can respond to her latest alarm, she is found dead. The marshal's search for the villains who precipitated her death brings him into confrontation with the past, with Jewish refugees from fascism, and with English expatriates, including the ailing heir to the elegant Villa L'Uliveto, Sir Christopher Wrothesly...

About this title

About the Author

Magdalen Nabb was born in Lancashire in 1947 and trained as a potter. In 1975 she abandoned pottery, sold her home and her car, and came to Florence with her son, knowing nobody and speaking no Italian. She has lived there ever since, and pursues a dual career as crime writer and children's author.

From Publishers Weekly

Fans of George Simenon's Inspector Maigret will find much to like in Nabb's 12th police procedural (after 2001's Property of Blood) to feature Marshal Salvatore Guarnaccia. A native of Sicily taken with the charms of his adopted Florence, Guarnaccia has earned the trust of its residents at all social levels as well as the high regard of his commanding officer, Captain Maestrangelo, at Borgo Ognissanti Headquarters. After an intruder breaks into Sara Hirsch's apartment but steals nothing, the frightened, impoverished spinster goes to the Palazo Pitti Station of the Florence Carabinieri for the marshal's help. When a wealthy English art collector is robbed of some silver brushes, possibly by a member of his palace staff, the two incidents seem unconnected, as does the subsequent murder of an Albanian prostitute. The marshal insists that he isn't a detective, but he shows himself to be a careful observer as he untangles multiple mysteries through insight into the Florentine community. While deferring to his superiors, Guarnaccia puts together the seemingly unrelated parts of a large picture they fail to see. Glimpses of our hero's family and home life, plus his reactions to the oppressive summer heat of the lovingly evoked setting, add to his humanity. The several subplots may tie together somewhat improbably in the end, but Nabb's elegant style and sensitivity to character more than compensate.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Soho Press, Incorporated
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0434010545
• ISBN 13: 9780434010547
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1