The Innocent (Marshal Guarnaccia Investigation) - Hardcover

Nabb, Magdalen

3.59

236 ratings by Goodreads

9781569474143: The Innocent (Marshal Guarnaccia Investigation)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1569474141 ISBN 13: 9781569474143

Publisher: Soho Crime, 2005

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Praise for the Marshal Guarnaccia series:

"It takes a writer as good as Magdalen Nabb to remind us how subtle the art of the mystery can be. . . . Nabb has Simenon's knack."-The New York Times Book Review

"Nabb's uncanny portrayal of Florence, its pace, scents, sounds, the rhythm of its language . . . is so vivid."-The Boston Globe

"If you didn't make it to Florence this summer, don't despair. It was probably too crowded anyway-and there's a new Marshal Guarnaccia investigation to keep you abreast of the sights, smells, tastes, and traffic problems of that great Italian city."-Chicago Tribune

"There is no other series quite like the Guarnaccia stories . . . in their moody charms. . . . His tender heart casts a wide net; people trust him, talk to him, seem to feel he is more prescient than he knows he is. The result is a narrative in which the marshal serves as a mirror to the world around him."-The Washington Post Book World

"Strongly recommended for readers who like sophisticated, literate mysteries in foreign settings."-Library Journal

The body of a woman has been found half-submerged in an ornamental fish pond high up in Florence's Boboli gardens. At first, the woman cannot be identified; only her skull remains. The marshal must use her clothing and a shoe to trace her.

She turns out to be a young Japanese woman apprenticed to one of Florence's legendary custom shoemakers, crotchety old Peruzzi. Could he have killed his protégé? Or did jealousy drive his other apprentice to murder? The neighbors have seen Akiko with a lover-a brilliant young carabinieri-who has disappeared. Has he fled to avoid arrest?

The marshal must go to Rome to complete his investigation. When he returns to Florence he can identify the killer, but can he bring him to justice?

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About the Author:

Magdalen Nabb wrote fourteen books in the Marshal Guarnaccia series. She was born and educated in England, and she lived and wrote in Florence, where she died on August 18, 2007.

From Publishers Weekly:

Last seen in Nabb's Some Bitter Taste (2002), Marshal Salvatore Guarnaccia is an unusual protagonist for a crime novel: he's neither a Bond-like sophisticate nor a recovering loser; a Sicilian living in Florence, he's neither on his own turf nor in a strange land. A modest family man, a quiet and calm observer—but no macho silence, mind you—he makes his way in a town he's come to know. In lovely measured language, the author unfolds the story of a woman's body found in a pond in the Boboli Gardens. The victim is unrecognizable, so it's some time before Guarnaccia, calling on an intriguing assortment of artisans and others in his neighborhood, discovers that she's Akiko, a young Japanese apprentice to the shoemaker Peruzzi. Guarnaccia digs for answers, but when he finally identifies Akiko's mysterious lover, the chief suspect in her death, the marshal for once regrets knowing the truth. While this, the 13th Marshal Guarnaccia investigation, may be short on action (even admirers of Nabb's style may find an extended dream sequence a bit too long), it offers such pleasures as great local atmosphere and rich characterizations.
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