Watching a documentary on the french/german TV ARTE about Magdalen Nabb and being on the departure to Florence I was very interested so I ordered the book immediately.

"It is just before Christmas and the marshal wants to go South to spend the holiday with his wife and family, but first he must recover from the flu (which has left the Florentine caribinieri short-handed) and also solve a murder. A seemingly respectable retired Englishman, living in a flat on the Via Maggio near the Santa Trinita bridge, was shot in the back during the night. He was well-connected and Scotland Yard has despatched two officers to "assist" the Italians in solving the crime. But it is the marshal, a quiet observer, not an intellectual, who manages to figure out what happened, and why." Amazon.

A touch of Simenon in Florence.

Reserved for DianeFraser's shrinking VBB.

On its way to yorkshire-lass as part of diane-fraser's shrinking VBB 2.

Thank you for sending this, it looks really interesting, it may be a while until I can get to this as my TBR pile is massive.

Got to it at last!
I enjoyed this, a little "old fashionrd" but an enjoyable and quick read.

This is going into Plum-crazy's "World of Crime" Bookbox.

Interesting, I picked this out of the World of Crime box because I was over the weight for sending it back out into the wide world and this helped to sort the weight problem out. However, I took it up to bed and next thing I'm halfway through it! I finished it this morning so can definitely agree with yorkshire-lass that it is an enjoyable and easy read!!

Unexpectedly, I really liked this short sample of Magdalen Nabb's writing. I had not heard of this author and having seen that it was a "little old-fashioned" I was wary whether it would live up to my expectations or not, but it did. Although it was a little old-fashioned in its approach, it was nonetheless well written and a fascinating insight into a different police force in a very different time period to my more normal crime reading. A well observed series of vignettes make up this delightful short story. I do hope I'll come across more of this author, who knows.

Not got a definite plan for this book yet but I do have an inkling of an idea for it. Let's see if it works out, meanwhile available.

Added to a bookbox - one of three bookboxes I have going out this week!

Taken from the favourite lines bookbox

I hadn't heard of Magdalen Nabb when I picked this out of the bookbox. It was short but very good.

Picked up from the Leeds Meet-up....& started it on the train home :o)

A Florentine murder- mystery that at first I thought was written...or at least set...in the 1940s/50's as it has rather a old-fashioned air about it - though I see I'm not alone in thinking that!

Its not exactly a "cosy" mystery but it's leaning that way (it's certainly no gritty or gory tale) & it's a shortish read at 172 pages. Okay overall but I felt the conclusion & revealing of the murderer was a bit of a non-event.

Taking to the Leeds Midweek Meet-up. If it's not picked up by another Bookcrosser it will be added to the LFL in the cafe.




Congratulations - You've found a travelling book !

Here at BookCrossing we're trying to give books their own unique history by keeping a running log of all the places they've been and what their readers think of them.

You can help us to track this book's travels by taking a moment to make a journal entry - let us know where you found it, what you thought of it or where it's going next - write as much or as little as you like! You can remain anonymous or why not join us? If you decide to join us you will receive an alert every time someone new journals the book, helping you to follow it's travels as it meets new readers.

Enjoy the book!

(If you do decide to join Bookcrossing, please consider putting me,
Plum-crazy, as your referring member - thank you)

Sorry for taking so long to journal. This up at our meet on Wednesday. Looks promising.

I enjoyed this short read and although, like Plum-crazy, I thought the reveal was a bit of a non-event, it wouldn't put me off searching for more in the series.

Now, on the way to one of our Bookcrossing friends.

A very quick read for you. Hope you enjoy it.

Thank you, Deltic, for a very welcome package that the postman delivered this morning, full of surprise books and stuff, much appreciated. I've been reading more than ever during lockdown and my to be read piles have been decreasing at an alarming rate. I'm delighted that kind and helpful BookCrossing friends have been restocking them for me . . .
This old-fashioned mystery looks like a fun read, thank you.
It's pleasing that its previous readers all have familiar screen-names and that I've met most of them in person. Greetings to you all :-)

Thanks again! I found it a rather jerky and disjointed murder mystery, about which I've nothing much to say in favour or against. It was just something to read in hibernation! I'm not sure why the front cover declares it A Marshal Guarnaccia Investigation when he spends most of it in bed with a fever . . .

In the post as a surprise RABCK - which may or may not be a welcome one . . .

What a lovely and welcome surprise. I'm not sure that I would ever have picked them up myself but will certainly give it a go. Thanks for sharing.

Initially it seemed somewhat disconcerting that Guarnaccia is pretty well permanently laid up in bed and has very little involvement in the actual investigation given that he is supposedly the central figure of these books. Initially we only see him through Bacci's eyes, who regards him as an obese old man with possible Mafia links. But as the book reaches its climax we see Guarnaccia in a very different light, as a sensitive man and a good detective.

It's always interesting to see how different cultures react to one another when thrown together in a situation, throw in the added complication of a language barrier and you have the ingredients of an interesting tale, and Nabb seems to have been a keen observer.

In truth I'm not a real fan of detective novels but it felt like a homage to the Sherlock Holmes' novels, where others do all the grunt work and then Holmes or in this case Guarniccia with a piece of insight solves the crime. This also had the distinction that come the end of the book I felt that the murderer was the real victim here.

I found this a quick, entertaining read with some interesting characters. I'm curious to learn more about the Marshal and I cannot help but feel that Nabb was only testing the water with this book so surely those that follow must be even better so consequently I will be keeping my eyes peeled for the next book in the series.

Spotted this on a wishlist so going out as a RABCK. Enjoy!

Thank you very much for this wishlist book!