Death of an Englishman: A Marshal Guarnaccia Investigation

Death of an Englishman: A Marshal Guarnaccia Investigation

DEATH OF AN ENGLISHMAN (Trad. Mystery/Pol. Proc-Marshal Guarnaccia-Italy-Cont) - G+
Nabb, Magdalen - 1st in series
Charles Scribner's Sons, 1981, US Hardcover - ISBN: 0684177579

First Sentence: The small office was in darkness, except where the red night lamp stood by the telephone on the desk, and the white kid gloves lying on top of a sheaf of papers within the patch of light were flushed pink.

Marshal Guiarnaccia is a Carabiniere stationed in Florence. He wants to get home for Christmas with his family in Sicily but is laid low with a bad case of the flu so it's his young new police cadet, Carabiniere Bacci, faced with the investigation into the murder of a well-connected Englishman.

Inspectors from Scotland Yard appear on the scene and want to keep things quite. As he begins to recover, it is the subtle observations of Marshal that solve the case.

I was not familiar with this author, but it was recommended to me and I thought I'd give it a try. I'm so glad I did.

It's the first of the series and a bit misleading since the actual protagonist spends most of the story being sick. I didn't learn much about Marshal in this book, but when he did make an appearance, I became completely intrigued and wanted more.

I loved the Florentine setting. Nabb is a wonderfully visual writer. Unfortunately, now I've found another author whose backlist I need to seek out and read.

Death of an Englishman: A Marshal Guarnaccia Investigation

Having really enjoyed Camilleri's Montalbano books, I was hopeful about this, especially after seeing such good reviews. I was greatly disappointed. The mystery itself was all right, although the red herrings were rather expected, but it was the feel of the story which was the greatest disappointment. Rather than having an Italian, much less Florentine, flavor permeate the story, I felt as if the author visited for local color and presented details without substance. Marshall Guarnaccia was barely in the story much of the time, and I got no feel for his personality or quirks. It was the English characters who had the most life, and that wasn't what I was looking for.The Terra-Cotta Dog: An Inspector Montalbano Mystery

Death of an Englishman: A Marshal Guarnaccia Investigation

I was going to read this book which looked nicely recomended but thanks to the kindly meant but unfortunately revealing review of Maiko Shimoi from Osaka, Japan I will not be reading this book.

Any one else who is planning to read the book please do not read Maiko's review...