Magdalen Nabb: Death of an Englishman (USA 2013)

From the Publisher:
Death of an Englishman introduces Marshal Salvatore Guarnaccia of the Florentine Carabinieri. He wants to go south for Christmas to spend the holiday with his family in Sicily, but a retired Englishman living in Florence has been murdered. Who has shot Mr. Langley-Smythe in the back? The marshal must discover the identity of the criminal and the motive for the crime before he can take the train home for the holidays.

PRAISE FOR MAGDALEN NABB'S FLORENTINE MYSTERIES
"Nabb's Florentine series has offered distinctive mystery novels with an elegant, literate style... Her novels glow with the warmth and charm of their Florentine setting." -- Washington Post Book World
"A keen sense of setting, character and plot." -- Chicago Sun-Times
"[An] outstanding series." -- Philadelpbia Inquirer
"Nabb is formidable... an Italian reality tourists rarely glimpse." -- Houston Post
"Nabb presents Florence without fuss and gush, her Italians are believable, non-jokey types, her stories crafted with care. A pleasure to read." - The Times (London)
"Guarnaccia continues to impress as the most convincingly human of modern detectives and his creator as a writer of deep and rare dimensions." -- The Observer

MAGDALEN NABB was born in Lancashire and trained as a potter. In 1975, she left her old life behind and moved with her son to Florence, where she fell in love with the local setting. Her Marshal Guarnaccia series, which has been translated into ten languages, was inspired by a real local marshal she befriended in the tiny pottery town of Montelupo Fiorentino. Nabb wrote children's fiction and crime novels until her death in 2007.

Magdalen Nabb: Death of an Englishman. A Marshal Guarnaccia Investigation. Soho Press, ISBN: 9781616952990 (July, 2013), 224 p., $9.99, eBook $7.99.

Magdalen Nabb: Death of an Englishman (UK 2004)

From the Publisher:
Introducing Marshal Salvatore Guarnaccia of the Florentine carabinieri, a Sicilian stationed far from home. He wants to go south for Christmas to spend the holiday with his family, but he is laid up with the 'flu. At this awkward moment, the death of a retired Englishman is reported. A most inconvenient time for a murder case. Who has shot Mr Langley-Smythe in the back? And why has Scotland Yard felt it appropriate to send two detectives, one of whom speaks no Italian, to 'help' the marshal and his colleagues with their investigation? Most importantly for the marshal, ever the Italian, will he be able to solve the crime in time to join his family over the holiday season?

This first book in the ever popular detective series is a wonderfully evocative piece of crime fiction and quasi-travel writing, as the reader is immediately transported into the heart of Florence, one of Italy's most beautiful cities.

Magdalen Nabb: Death of an Englishman. A Marshal Guarnaccia Mystery. Arrow, ISBN: 9780099443346 (February, 2004), 238 p., £7.99.

Magdalen Nabb: Death of an Englishman (USA 2001)

From the Publisher:
Death of an Englishman introduces Marshal Salvatore Guarnaccia, a Sicilian stationed in Florence. He wants to go south for Christmas to spend the holiday with his family, but he is laid up with the flu. At this awkward moment, the death of a retired Englishman is reported. Who has shot Mr. Langley-Smythe in the back? The marshal must discover the identity of the criminal and the motive for the crime before he can take the train home for the holidays.

Praise for Magdalen Nabb's Florentine Mysteries
"Your first novel was a coup de maitre... your second is a masterpiece." -- Georges Simenon
"Nabb's Florentine series has offered distinctive mystery novels with an elegant, literate style... Her novels glow with the warmth and charm of their Florentine setting." -- Washington Post Book World
"A keen sense of setting, character and plot." -- Chicago Sun-Times
"Guarnaccia continues to impress as the most convincingly human of modern detectives and his creator as a writer of deep and rare dimensions." -- The Observer
"Nabb is formidable... an Italian reality tourists rarely glimpse." -- Houston Post
"Nabb presents Florence without fuss and gush, her Italians are believable, non-jokey types, her stories crafted with care. A pleasure to read." - The Times (London)
"[Anj excellently written series." -- Antonia Fraser, London Daily News
"Like other thoughtful studies of violence in this outstanding series... shows a keen preoccupation with the social conditions that incline ordinary people to criminal behavior." -- Philadelphia Inquirer
"Superbly crafted." -- Booklist
"Dandy... Sure to lead the audience to Nabb's earlier books." -- Publishers Weekly

Magdalen Nabb: Death of an Englishman. A Marshal Guarnaccia Investigation. Soho Press, ISBN: 1569472548 (September, 2001), 172 p., $12.00.

Magdalen Nabb: Death of an Englishman (USA 1984)

From the Publisher:
Florence in December: a time for Christmas revels... and murder
Holiday shoppers crowd the narrow Florentine streets, pushing past the glittering gift-filled windows; patrons in a festive mood spill forth from the bars and trattorias. And in a cluttered, dirty, antique-filled apartment near the Pitti Palace lies the body of an Englishman.

A. Langley-Smythe was, on the surface, a quiet, unassuming man, but as Marshal Guarnaccia, the burly, Sicilian-born officer-in-charge, digs deeper into the case, he discovers that the Englishman led a messy life indeed -- filled with unsavory friends, importunate relatives, and unseemly financial dealings. It is only on Christmas Eve that the sad truth finally emerges...

"An authentic and beguiling tale... the lively and apt details of background add to a delightfully characterized tale of murder." -- Chicago Tribune
"Both a wonderful evocation of Florence (its streets, its food, its art) and a powerfully plotted, conflict-riddled detective story" -- Booklist

Magdalen Nabb: Death of an Englishman. Penguin, ISBN: 0140068937 (February, 1984), 172 p., $2.95.

Magdalen Nabb: Death of an Englishman (USA 1982)

From the Publisher:
Murder shouldn't happen just before Christmas. It's not fair to good policemen like Marshal Guarnaccia, who works in Florence and wants to get home to Sicily to spend the holidays with his family.

#But murderers aren't often considerate, and the person unknown who shot retired Englishman A. Langley-Smythe in the back couldn't have timed the killing more awkwardly.

While beautiful Florence is filled with wealthy tourists looking for last-minute Christmas bargains, poor Marshal Guarnaccia lies feverish in his bed with the flu. To make matters worse, he is supposed to be supervising a young and overly eager police officer cadet, Carabiniere Bacci.

Wouldn't you know that the one night the Marshal is passed out with fever Bacci would discover a body? The young man dreams of the instant glory he will get by solving the crime, but before he can cause too much damage he is joined on the case by three associates: a captain from headquarters, in charge of the investigation, and two unofficial helpers from Scotland Yard, Chief Inspector Lowestoft and Inspector Jeffreys. It seems that Mr. Langley-Smythe had relatives in high places, and Scotland Yard wants to keep things as quiet aspossible. What could the unassuming Langley-Smythe have done to get himself involved in something as uncouth as murder? He was a quiet man who kept to himself, lived in a dirty, cluttered apartment, and habitually took his meals at a cheap café. But his life was more complicated than most people knew, and it is only on Christmas Eve that the tragic truth emerges.

Filled with the richness of the medieval palazzos and teeming streets of Florence, and with wry observations of what happens when two cultures try to mix, Death of an Englishman marks the auspicious debut of a talented new mystery writer.

MAGDALEN NABB has lived in Florence since 1975. Originally a potter, she now writes full time and is working on a second crime novel, also set in Florence. Her play, Florence of the North, was produced professionally in 1979.

Magdalen Nabb: Death of an Englishman. A Novel of Murder in Florence. Charles Scribner's Sons, ISBN: 0684177579 (November, 1982), 172 p., $10.95.