Vita Nuova [Paperback]

Magdalen Nabb (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2009

"A final reminder of why [Nabb] is irreplaceable among English-speaking novelists who write mysteries with Italian locales.”—Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review

“Nabb’s books display all the rich prose and quirky characters that Christie was famous for.”—BookPage

“The world of crime fiction [is] poorer for the loss of Magdalen Nabb.”—The Boston Phoenix

“Charming. . . . Lovely.”—Rocky Mountain News

“If you didn’t make it to Florence this summer, don’t despair. . . . There’s a new Marshal Guarnaccia investigation.”—Chicago Tribune

“Surpasses the best of Simenon.”—Kirkus Reviews

“There is no other series quite like the Guarnaccia stories.”—The Washington Post Book World

Daniela is a quiet single mother studying for a doctorate in chemistry. She rarely goes out, so her murder in her bedroom at the family’s new villa seems inexplicable. It is true that her mother, who appears to be an alcoholic; her younger sister, who has had mental problems; and her father, who has made his money running nightclubs and is probably involved in the international sex trade, are not your average home-loving Italian nuclear family, but what can she have done to be singled out for slaughter? And why has the prosecutor asked specifically for Marshal Guarnaccia to head the investigation?

This is the fourteenth book in this acclaimed series. Magdalen Nabb, who was born and educated in England, lived and wrote in Florence, where she died on August 18, 2007.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

*Starred Review* The final Marshal Guarnaccia mystery (Nabb died in August) reminds us all over again that this quiet, deceptively rich series has never received the acclaim it deserves. This time Guarnaccia, the self-effacing carbinieri marshal, must move well out of his comfort zone—the shopkeepers and blue-collar residents whom he encounters on the streets of Florence—to the world of the city’s wealthy and, in particular, to one severely dysfunctional family, the Paolettis, whose oldest daughter has been shot in her home. The more Guarnaccia digs into the case, the more he senses trouble: not only is the head of the family up to his neck in the sex trade, but the prosecutor of the case may be entangled as well, putting the lowly marshal up against powerful foes more than capable of ruining his career. As always, Nabb wins us over with the Columbo-like Guarnaccia’s mixture of surface bumbling and subtle shrewdness, mixed with a heightend sensitivity to both everyday woes and heart-wrenching tragedy. Fans of Donna Leon’s Guido Brunetti will find in Guarnaccia the ideal workingman’s parallel to the equally sensitive but far more intellectual Venetian commissario. Nabb writes more traditional, Simenon-style mysteries than Leon, but she is every bit as skilled in finding nuance in the smallest detail and in giving readers a sense of how the dailiness of a policeman’s life is both a source of support and frustration. This series will be missed by all devotees of the Italian crime novel. --Bill Ott --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Magdalen Nabb was born in Lancashire in 1947. She moved to Florence in 1975 and pursued a dual career as crime writer and children's author. She passed away in August 2007. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Soho Crime (July 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1569475873
• ISBN-13: 978-1569475874
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #539,102 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Marshal Guarnaccia leaves the crime scene, August 10, 2008

By 

Blue in Washington "Barry Ballow" (Washington, DC United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

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This review is from: Vita Nuova (Hardcover)

Author Magdalen Nabb died recently, bringing an end to her much appreciated Marshal Guarnaccia Investigation books. I haven't read all of the novels in this Florence-based crime series, but I suspect that "Vita Nuova" was not the best of of the group. For me, a 3 1/2-star effort.

While there is laudable humanity and honesty in the Guarnaccia character, the very measured speed at which the character works and the continual repetition of the dialogue in the text as the Marshal ponders and re-ponders the evidence, slow the story line down to a crawl at times. There are moments when the hero's deliberate obtuseness and slow thinking become frustrating for the reader more used to a diet of razor-sharp and cynical detective stories--of Italian or other settings.

This particular crime novel begins with the brutal murder of a female member of one of Florence's nouveau riche families (not sure what the Italian equivalent is), and leads to some unpleasant revelations about the skin trade and trafficking in women and children. The ugliness spreads as members of the city's political and economic elites are implicated with the slow expansion of Marshal Guarnaccia's investigation in new directions. As is often the case in Italian police procedurals, there is political danger for the honest cop when he or she gets too close to criminal/political relationships and Guarnaccia eventually finds himself in very hot water when one of his own bosses appears to be part of the crimes under investigation.

In the end, the Marshal's good heart and common sense do solve the case and win the reader over. This is close to vindication for the long and winding road to denouement. So a regretful good-bye to the Marshal and even more regret for the loss of author Nabb.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars strong Italian police procedural, June 3, 2008

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Vita Nuova (Hardcover)

Just above Florence in her bedroom someone shoots and kills twenty-five years Daniela Paoletti. The victim is connected as the oldest daughter of an affluent Florentine nightclub owner. Marshal Guarnaccia puts aside his personal concern of life after the military to investigate the shooting homicide of the single mom PH.D candidate.

Guarnaccia quickly realizes there is no apparent motive for someone to shoot the woman six times in her tower bedroom and not target anyone else, but also concludes that Daniela's family has issues. Her father remains in the hospital recovering from a stroke and his wife appears in a state of perpetual intoxication. However, most unsettling to Marshal is talk of female trafficking from Eastern Europe into Italy.

This is a strong Italian police procedural that plays out on two levels. First there is the homicide investigation that leads the hero to an even bigger case haunting the world; the abduction and sale of females into sexual slavery. Additionally a second subplot has Guarnaccia concerned with personal difficult decisions as he ponders if life is passing him by starting with his deep thinking about early retirement. The late Magdalen Nabb affirms why she has been consistently one of the best mystery writers of the past decade.

Harriet Klausner

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Slow and depressing, July 24, 2009

By 

northkona (Kailua-Kona, HI United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Vita Nuova (Paperback)

I enjoyed many of Nabb's books, and like the way she offers tidbits of Florentine history to anchor her stories to that city. Some of the books are better than others, but this one is a slow, boring read and also depressing. The trafficking in Albanian and Romanian young women, girls and children is hardly an entertainment. The dangerous situation these illegal immigrants find themselves in is the subject of some other Italian police mystery stories, like those of Donna Leon. Clearly, it's a real problem in today's Italy, but it's pretty dark and disturbing. This book fell flat for me mainly because it dragged on too slowly with pages and pages spent describing boring stake-outs and dialog that repeated too often. I ended up speed-reading through the last third. I do recommend Nabb, but suggest the earlier books as being the best of the bunch. One brief comment on the reviewers: I am suspicious of any reviewer who claims to have read thousands and thousands of books, and seems to like them all. I find some of the better reviews are not the ones with 5 stars.