Customer Reviews

The Marshal and the Madwoman

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The best time to murder someone in Italy is during its brief but sweltering summer, when all the sensible people have left for the coast. Those who are left, like Marshal Salvatore Guarnaccia of the Florence Carabinieri, keep to the margins of life - the shady side of the street and the edges of the day.

It would be easy to dismiss the suicide of a neighborhood "crazy" as just another sad chapter in the life of the urban poor. But Crazy Clementina lives in a close-knit traditional Italian community, which makes sure that the unfortunate neighbor has a daily bowl of soup with bread or enough gas to feed her little stove.

The Marshal and the Madwoman was first published in Britain by Penguin Books in 1988. It's one in a series about the phlegmatic Sicilian investigator, who (to his supervisor's constant irritation) tends to get involved in "other people's little problems". This is a re-issue by Soho Press.

I've read a number of the books in the Soho Crime series and there hasn't been a dud amongst them. The writers are all first-flight: van de Wetering, Lovesey, Qiu, Matsumoto and so on. I can recommend them all.

If you've never read a mystery by Magdalen Nabb I envy you the treat you're about to enjoy. This is one in the series of Marshall Guarnacia novels set in Florence Italy. It is one of the hottest days of summer. The city is mostly empty since everyone has left on holiday so the Marshall decides to take advantage of the calm to teach his wife to drive. They have barely begun the lesson when there is an outcry in the next street. In the space of a moment, the Marshall's wife and his dreams of peace are left behind. Magdalen Nabb has filled the book with so many details you feel the street burning the soles of your feet. The characters are three-dimensional down to the lowest ranking man in the office and they grow and change with each book. It may be hot where you are but it is even hotter in Florence with the Marshall and following his troubles will take your mind off your own. I heartily recommend all the books in this series.

First Sentence: In spite of themselves, they paused at the edge of the stone kerb.

It is hot, humid August in Florence and the city is nearly empty of residents. Attempting to teach his wife to drive, Marshal Salvatore Guarnaccia, of the carabinieri, comes across some of his men in an ancient quarter of the city. A nearly naked woman is causing disruption by shouting down to a crowd, which is encouraging her.

Days later, Guarnaccia is called out to the same quarter as the woman has been found dead by apparent suicide. But suicide it is not, and Guarnaccia wants to know who would murder this woman who was considered "not all there," is thought by all to be poor, in spite of a thousand lira he's found in a tin, and who has not a single photograph in her apartment.

It has taken me awhile to get into the feel of the Guarnaccia books, but they have definitely grown on me with each book.

Nabb's books are about people. Salvatore Guarnaccia has lived away from his wife because of his posting and the young men who serve under him have, in some sense, become surrogate sons as he's been away from his own. Now that his wife is with him, it adds another dimension to the character. Guarnaccia's wife is trying to become accustomed to being with her husband again and living in a city with which she is unfamiliar.

Nabb bring all the characters to life; the owner of the bar and somewhat head man of the small quarter in which the crime occurs and, most particularly, the victim about whose life we learn as Guarnaccis investigates her death.

The plot is very good. Guarnaccia has to deal with the frustrations of his branch not always having autonomy over their investigations. But he believes in what he does and in people. The end was wonderfully done.

Rather than having an all encompassing sense of place about Florence, I feel Nabb is acquainting us with the city one bit at a time, rather as one would discover a city. I was unfamiliar with the floor of 1966 and its vivid inclusion was not only informative but critical.

This series has a very different feel from Donna Leon's Brunetti books, and definitely holds its own.

NOTE: The carabinieri is one of eight branches of enforcement in Italy. They are a special branch of the army with similar functions to the police, sometimes overlapping with the other branches of the police. They are particularly concerning criminal investigation. They deal with national and serious crime, including organized crime, and are Italy's most efficient, and best funded, and professional police force. Being a military force, they are housed in barracks (caserma) in all major towns and cities,

THE MARSHAL AND THE MADWOMAN (Pol Proc-Mar. Salvatore Guarnaccia-Florence, Italy-Cont) - VG
Nabb, Magdalen - 6th in series
Scribners, 1988, US Hardcover - ISBN: 0684189844

As a previous reviewer mentioned - this book does a brilliant job of describing August in Florence. The heat is so pervasive, it is like a third character. This book starts so slowly, it almost meanders - we are "with" the Marshal through every step of his sweating August. It seems to gather momentem in the final third, rather like a horse race - (I read that Magdalen Nabb was a great rider). I think you have to be in the mood for a book like this - it is not going to pick you up and take you for a romp (ANOTHER horse metaphor!). You must be in a contempletive mood and take it on its own terms. You'll be rewarded!! And there are many more MArshall books to read!

I was very disappointed with the two "Marshal" books that I bought. Yes, it is fun to re-visit Florence, but that is the end of the attraction. The author seems to have failed the basic class in mystery writing--developing plot and character through action. Long explanations substitute for action. I did not feel I knew the characters and did not care much about them.