Some Bitter Taste

August 12, 2002
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. (Oct.)Forecast:An English writer who has made Florence her home, Nabb will be coming to the U.S. this fall for an extended visit. The attendant publicity and promotion should translate into extra sales.

September 1, 2002
Exceedingly tactful and patient, Marshal Guarnaccia of the Florentine police has at last lined up a case against a man accused of importing and exploiting Albanian prostitutes. But he is distracted when a seemingly paranoid old woman who had complained to him about people entering her apartment winds up murdered. Though not strictly a detective, the marshal begins to reconstruct the life of the victim, an early refugee from the Nazis. Sedate, comforting prose belies the inner resolve of the marshal and the surprising plot twists he uncovers. The British-born, Florence-based Nabb is a best-selling author in Europe (Soho is releasing paperbacks of two older titles in the series), and her lastest is strongly recommended for readers who like sophisticated, literate mysteries in foreign settings.

Copyright 2002 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2002
The resumption last year of Nabb's Marshal Guarnaccia series (" Property of Blood" [BKL Ag 01]) was a cause for celebration among crime-fiction fans. This latest installment, the twelfth in the series, offers still more proof of why the self-effacing carbinieri marshal is among the genre's most appealing cops. Part Maigret, part Columbo, the blue-collar Guarnaccia, stationed in Florence but a native of southern Italy, solves crimes almost in spite of himself, overcoming "his tendency to think he could only be in the way during any important investigation." Here he seems to have ample reason to doubt himself; his failure to take an elderly woman's fears seriously may have hastened her death, leaving Guarnaccia determined to figure out who was responsible. The trail leads in multiple directions, one involving Jewish refugees during World War II, another concerning the plight of today's Albanian immigrants. Handled less subtly, Guarnaccia might have become a sentimental figure, but Nabb places him in an utterly unsentimental world, a place where his sensitivity typically leads to his own heartbreak rather than others' salvation.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2002, American Library Association.)