Magdalen Nabb: The Marshal at the Villa Torrini (USA 2009)

From the Publisher:
A well-known writer is found dead in the Villa Torrini in Florence without a mark of violence on her. Somehow, she has drowned in her bath. Marshal Guarnaccia of the carabinieri must solve the mystery of her death while struggling with a new legal system-and a strict new diet.

Praise for the Marshal Guarnaccia series:
"This elegant series, which began in 1981 with Death of an Englishman... is set in Florence, a city that glows in the Tuscan sun... [His sense of estrangement accounts for Guarnaccia's special perspective on strangers, those 'innocents' among the living and the dead." -- The New York Times Book Review

"Lean, elegant prose that surpasses the best of Simenon, along with a puckish view of the Florentines from Guarnaccia's Sicilian perspective." -- Kirkus Reviews

"The richest mystery here, however, is Florence itself, whose intricate politics and class structure Nabb parses with precision and wit." -- Washington Post

"Great local atmosphere and rich characterizations." -- Publishers Weekly

"[A] superb series... A working-man's Maigret." -- Booklist

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

Magdalen Nabb: The Marshal at the Villa Torrini. A Marshal Guarnaccia Investigation. Soho Press, ISBN: 9781569475621 (July, 2009), 192 p., $13.00.