The Innocent [Paperback]

Magdalen Nabb (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2006

It is spring in Florence and everyone around Marshal Guarnaccia seems to be in love, even his own son. The case he is working on, the murder of a young woman, seems to present no particular problems. No distressed parents, no political or influential connections, no pressure from the media. The investigation takes him only a few steps from home, to the Boboli gardens and to the artisans' quarter - where he knows everybody and everybody knows him. The locals also trust him - until he seems to be accusing one of them...Then everything changes. A second death follows and Guarnaccia is convinced that it is his fault. The case becomes one of the most distressing he's ever had to handle. Burdened with guilt, he finds it impossible to trust his own instincts any more...But he has to learn to do so before he can get at the truth...

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

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.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

In the earlier episodes in this superb series, carabiniere officer Marshal Guarnaccia, stationed in Florence, was forced to endure separation from his family, living in the south of Italy. Now wife and children have joined the long-suffering marshal, giving the proceedings a more domestic flavor, akin to Donna Leon's Venice-set Guido Brunetti novels. The fragility of the family unit is very much an issue here, as Guarnaccia attempts to solve the murder of a Japanese woman, apprentice to a Florentine shoemaker. As always, the sensitive Guarnaccia comes to identify with the victim, a hardworking woman estranged from her family in Japan. The case also causes a rift between the marshal and the various shopkeepers on his beat, which, coupled with what Guarnaccia sees as the growing distance between him and his sons, prompts a severe bout of self--deprecation. Nabb's thoroughly ingratiating hero is a working-man's Maigret, a bit of a plodder yet hypersensitive to human nuance and to the sometimes overwhelming sadness that lurks beneath the surface of daily life. Bill Ott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 258 pages
• Publisher: Thorndike Pr (March 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786281723
• ISBN-13: 978-0786281725
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,120,745 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nabb's Marshall Guarnaccia & Florence are both GREAT!, August 12, 2005

By 

Carlo Vennarucci (Berkeley, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Innocent (Hardcover)

Magdalen Nabb's 13th Marshal Guarnaccia novel THE INNOCENT is the latest episode in her venerable crime series that has been going strong for over two decades. Her two leading characters are her persistent carabinieri NCO, Marshal Salvatore Guarnaccia, and her beloved adopted city, Florence.

The story begins with the discovery of a women's body in an out-of-the-way pool in the Boboli Gardens, the expansive park next to the Pitti Palace. This is literally in the good Marshal's back yard since his carabinieri offices and barracks are in a wing of the Pitti Palace. This crime has the usual challenges--identify the victim; determine whether the death was accidental or murder; identify possible motives; look for suspects; and find and arrest the killer.

When you read one of Ms. Nabb's novels, you also embark on a wonderful tour of Florence. She always gives special emphasis to the seasons--this one takes place in springtime, late May-early June. The locale is an artisan's quarter in a tiny piazza without a name. This tiny square was formed at the end of World War II, when the retreating German army bombed all the approaches to the Ponte Vecchio, thus making it unnecessary to destroy the historic bridge. Clues lead Guarnaccia to this artisan's quarter where we get wonderful insights into the plight of these artisans and the sustainability of their crafts in the 21st century. We get to know the shoemaker, the furniture restorer, and the local restaurant owner who caters to the workers instead of the tourists. Their apprentices are no longer the young upwardly mobile Italians, but foreigners from as far away as Japan.

Ms. Nabb is unique in featuring the carabinieri in her books--and not the state police favored by her colleagues like Donna Leon and Michael Dibdin. Unlike Commissario Guido Brunetti or Inspector Aurelio Zen, Marshal Guarnaccia has a close day-to-day relationship with the people in his neighborhood jurisdiction. So when a murder occurs, he has already established a sense of trust with them, and this always helps in the solution of the crime. In this book, we get an insight into Guarnaccia's relationship with the young carabinieri recruits he commands; and his relationship with his two teenage sons. Typically he feels inadequate in both tasks!

This wonderful novel is a social commentary on modern day Italy as well as an entertaining crime story.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Marshall Guarnaccia is an Italian Treasure!, April 3, 2009

By 

A. Anderson "Book Person" (Chico, Califiornia) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Innocent (Marshal Guarnaccia Investigation) (Paperback)

Marshall Guarnaccia is one of the best detectives in the lexicon of psychological mysteries, and the series is one of constant and pure pleasure. Beautifully written, the pace is slower as author Nabb demonstrates both the charms and foibles of her adopted city. The Marshall is not at all 'showy'. He is a middle aged, married man who underestimates himself. He is a practical man who appears a bit phlegmatic, but has enormous sympathy with people, whether they be his subordinates, family or suspects. His detection methods are measured and steady: flashy gunbattles rarely arise in any of the novels. The Marshall finds the murder by both steadily following the clues (which are fair to the reader) and through his understanding of the failings of the heart and character of his people. The criticism that Nabb is merely a tourist board member for Florence is not justified. Florence sells itself and Nabb is writing for an English speaking audience that is, presumably, not familiar with her adopted city and its undeniable charms. Like Donna Leon and her Venetian detective (Buonetti? sp?), the city is a major character. Like both of the real cities, the fictional Florence (and Venice!) are seductive. This is the best sort of armchair travel.

What makes a good mystery? I have several criteria. The underlying tale has to be plausible, and Nabb never cheats on that score. Nor does she use the terribly obvious red herrings that other writers can clutter up a plot with. Multiple suspects arise in the course of determining if the lover, the employer, the friend or the family of the victim have both the passion and the motive for the crime, and these arise and are eliminated as a seemingly natural occurrence. In Florence, each neighborhood is its own 'village' where everyone knows each other (for good or ill), and the interrelationships make psychological sense. She uses this theme especially well in the Marshall and The Madwoman, but it exists in The Innocent too. She goes further in exploring the family life and concerns of the Marshall in The Innocent which may appeal more to readers of the preceding books in the series, but for the faithful, it is a pleasure. But each book does stand on its own and is a worthy read.

A really good mystery has the same requirements as any other writing. Nabb is a master of language, pacing, and evoking a compelling atmosphere. The writing itself is a pleasure and I think I would enjoy reading anything the woman wrote, from books to laundry lists. I am extremely, selfishly sorry that the author died: I could happily read many more stories of the Marshall and his world, his steady pace through his own uncertainties, and his understanding that, at the base of all human action is motive. I enthusiastically recommend this book and the entire series. They are treasures.

4.0 out of 5 stars A Profoundly Shakespearean Feel to this One, December 7, 2011

By 

Grey Wolffe "Zeb Kantrowitz" (North Waltham, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Innocent (Marshal Guarnaccia Investigation) (Paperback)

Young lovers from totally different cultures are caught in a trap of mistaken intention and greed. That's the gist of this novel and one of the best in the series. A body is found in one of the fountains in the "Boboli Gardens", but because its' been in the water with fish for four/five days, the face and fingers are gone and it's going to be difficult to discover her identity. There are some very nice touches as the Marshal in his dogged way tries to find out not just what happened by why it happened.

This episode of the series is really about how families can both cast us out and suffocate us in. We have a Japanese girl who has fled away from what would have been an arranged marriage and the boredom of middle-class life; and an Italian boy with a bright future and a dark past. But the Marshal is able to piece together what happened and why but we find that justice is not always possible and that greed does sometimes win out.

Zeb Kantrowitz