- Hardcover: 168 pages
- Publisher: Collins Crime; 1st Edition edition (8 Dec 1983)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0002319306
- ISBN-13: 978-0002319300
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 2,400,058 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Praise for Magdalen Nabb:
“The best mystery news in ages is that Soho is restoring to the canon Magdalen Nabb and her tremendous crea-tion, Marshal Salvatore Guarnaccia of the Italian police in Florence.”—Chicago Tribune
“First rate. Engrossing, artful, and completely satisfying. Nabb is a fine writer.”—Frank Conroy
“Magdalen Nabb is so good she’s awesome.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer
“Nabb is formidable.”—Houston Post
Everyone is so distracted by the phenomenon of a March snowfall in Florence that no one notices two foreign girls being abducted from the piazza at gunpoint in broad daylight. Even Marshal Guarnaccia has trouble piecing together what he has actually seen: tourists in a car holding up a big map, children going to school, a bus, a drug addict on the steps of Santo Spirito church, a single Sardinian bagpiper in a long, black shepherd’s cloak.
One of the girls, a Norwegian university student, turns up in Pontino, a village in the Chianti hills, where she is hospitalized for a concussion, a leg wound, and possible pneumonia. She says she has been released by the kidnappers so she can make contact. The other kidnap victim, an American girl, is being held for ransom. But the marshal thinks she’s lying.
Kidnapping has become a local racket. It is up to Marshal Guarnaccia to save the young American and put a stop to a flourishing criminal enterprise. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
“The best mystery news in ages is that Soho is restoring to the canon Magdalen Nabb and her tremendous crea-tion, Marshal Salvatore Guarnaccia of the Italian police in Florence.”—Chicago Tribune
“First rate. Engrossing, artful, and completely satisfying. Nabb is a fine writer.”—Frank Conroy
“Magdalen Nabb is so good she’s awesome.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer
“Nabb is formidable.”—Houston Post
Everyone is so distracted by the phenomenon of a March snowfall in Florence that no one notices two foreign girls being abducted from the piazza at gunpoint in broad daylight. Even Marshal Guarnaccia has trouble piecing together what he has actually seen: tourists in a car holding up a big map, children going to school, a bus, a drug addict on the steps of Santo Spirito church, a single Sardinian bagpiper in a long, black shepherd’s cloak.
One of the girls, a Norwegian university student, turns up in Pontino, a village in the Chianti hills, where she is hospitalized for a concussion, a leg wound, and possible pneumonia. She says she has been released by the kidnappers so she can make contact. The other kidnap victim, an American girl, is being held for ransom. But the marshal thinks she’s lying.
Kidnapping has become a local racket. It is up to Marshal Guarnaccia to save the young American and put a stop to a flourishing criminal enterprise. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
First Sentence: "It can't be."
It is the first of March and snowing in Florence. This is such an unusual event, no one notice two college woman being kidnapped at gunpoint. One of the girls is released but the second, the daughter of a wealthy American business, is still being held.
Although Marshal Guarnaccia does what he can to help, it is up to Captain Maestrangelo, under the eye of the new Substitute Prosecutor to find and save the girl.
Within 165 pages, Ms. Nabb has provided a well-crafted, classic police procedural. This isn't a guns-blazing, car chase story. It is one of gathering clues, knowing the area and the residents and putting together the evidence piece by piece.
It is certainly evident how different the Italian system is from the American, but at the same time similar in the way the investigation was done and the determination to rescue the victim and find the kidnappers. Nabb provides a visual sense of the area, a bit of history of the Sardinian sheepherders and the impact of changing times.
Guarnaccia plays a minor role in this story, but it is all handled so realistically. I very much enjoyed this book and look forward to continuing with the series.
It is the first of March and snowing in Florence. This is such an unusual event, no one notice two college woman being kidnapped at gunpoint. One of the girls is released but the second, the daughter of a wealthy American business, is still being held.
Although Marshal Guarnaccia does what he can to help, it is up to Captain Maestrangelo, under the eye of the new Substitute Prosecutor to find and save the girl.
Within 165 pages, Ms. Nabb has provided a well-crafted, classic police procedural. This isn't a guns-blazing, car chase story. It is one of gathering clues, knowing the area and the residents and putting together the evidence piece by piece.
It is certainly evident how different the Italian system is from the American, but at the same time similar in the way the investigation was done and the determination to rescue the victim and find the kidnappers. Nabb provides a visual sense of the area, a bit of history of the Sardinian sheepherders and the impact of changing times.
Guarnaccia plays a minor role in this story, but it is all handled so realistically. I very much enjoyed this book and look forward to continuing with the series.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4 reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Very enjoyable read
8 Jan 2009
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
First Sentence: "It can't be."
It is the first of March and snowing in Florence. This is such an unusual event, no one notice two college woman being kidnapped at gunpoint. One of the girls is released but the second, the daughter of a wealthy American business, is still being held.
Although Marshal Guarnaccia does what he can to help, it is up to Captain Maestrangelo, under the eye of the new Substitute Prosecutor to find and save the girl.
Within 165 pages, Ms. Nabb has provided a well-crafted, classic police procedural. This isn't a guns-blazing, car chase story. It is one of gathering clues, knowing the area and the residents and putting together the evidence piece by piece.
It is certainly evident how different the Italian system is from the American, but at the same time similar in the way the investigation was done and the determination to rescue the victim and find the kidnappers. Nabb provides a visual sense of the area, a bit of history of the Sardinian sheepherders and the impact of changing times.
Guarnaccia plays a minor role in this story, but it is all handled so realistically. I very much enjoyed this book and look forward to continuing with the series.
It is the first of March and snowing in Florence. This is such an unusual event, no one notice two college woman being kidnapped at gunpoint. One of the girls is released but the second, the daughter of a wealthy American business, is still being held.
Although Marshal Guarnaccia does what he can to help, it is up to Captain Maestrangelo, under the eye of the new Substitute Prosecutor to find and save the girl.
Within 165 pages, Ms. Nabb has provided a well-crafted, classic police procedural. This isn't a guns-blazing, car chase story. It is one of gathering clues, knowing the area and the residents and putting together the evidence piece by piece.
It is certainly evident how different the Italian system is from the American, but at the same time similar in the way the investigation was done and the determination to rescue the victim and find the kidnappers. Nabb provides a visual sense of the area, a bit of history of the Sardinian sheepherders and the impact of changing times.
Guarnaccia plays a minor role in this story, but it is all handled so realistically. I very much enjoyed this book and look forward to continuing with the series.
Skipping this one would be OK
27 Nov 2011
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I really like the series, but there are 2 or 3 that are weak, and this is one of them. After building up her main character in the first two books, she sets him in a minor role in this one, and it's a bit confusing switching to other characters -- I kept thinking the Marshal would make his entrance and take over the story, but he doesn't. Demerits for the typesetting errors, misspellings, and wrong words, it makes the book seem slipshod. That's too bad, Nabb deserves better. Although a little disappointing, the tidbits about how Sardinians immigrated to Italy is interesting, as well as the very real problem with kidnapping in Italy. It's the cultural insights that make the series more than just police procedurals. When you read Nabb's books, you learn something about Florence and about Italy. In general, the series is great for those who like stories set in foreign locations. I like Magdalen Nabb, Donna Leon, Andrea Camilleri, and Simenon, all for the same reasons -- you're transported.
More Marshal Guarnaccia Next Time Please
9 Sep 2011
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
The author of Death in Springtime manages to do in 165 pages what it takes some authors 300 pages to accomplish. The setting in Florence is atmospheric and in this, the third in the series, many scenes take place away from the city where the reader gets a taste of the life of the people who live in the countryside, raising sheep and making cheese. The bucolic way of life in the mountains and valleys can hide a host of discontented and sinister people who turn to drugs and other petty crimes.
The main plot concerns the kidnapping of an American young woman, but even the smallest incident in any scene is important to the plot. My biggest disappointment is that Marshal Guarnaccia, who is usually the star of the series, makes only brief appearances in this book. I missed his eccentricities and his wisdom. The character of the step-mother of the kidnapped girl was endearing, but too many of the characters left me wanting to know more about them. I liked the first two books in this series enough that I will keep reading them, especially because the Marshal will have a bigger role in the next one.
The main plot concerns the kidnapping of an American young woman, but even the smallest incident in any scene is important to the plot. My biggest disappointment is that Marshal Guarnaccia, who is usually the star of the series, makes only brief appearances in this book. I missed his eccentricities and his wisdom. The character of the step-mother of the kidnapped girl was endearing, but too many of the characters left me wanting to know more about them. I liked the first two books in this series enough that I will keep reading them, especially because the Marshal will have a bigger role in the next one.
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