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Vita Nuova | 
 enlarge | Author: Magdalen Nabb
Publisher: Soho Crime
Category: Book
List Price: $24.00
Buy Used: $12.10
You Save: $11.90 (50%)
New (36) Used (10) Collectible (1) from $12.10
Rating:  5 reviews
Sales Rank: 113519
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 272
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.1 x 1.3
ISBN: 1569474931
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN: 9781569474938
ASIN: 1569474931
Publication Date: June 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Used: Good/very good; hard cover, some edgewear, corners lightly bumped & scratched, covers lightly rubbed and scratched, top right portion of ffep missing(shelf 51top)
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Product Description
Praise for the Marshal Guarnaccia Series: "It takes a writer as good as Magdalen Nabb to remind us of how subtle the art of the mystery can be. . . . Nabb has Simenon's knack."-The New York Times Book Review "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.
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| Customer Reviews:
 strong Italian police procedural June 3, 2008
Harriet Klausner
7 out of 10 found this review helpful
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
OK I cheated June 8, 2008
A. Anderson (Walnut Creek (SF Bay Area), CA USA)
6 out of 11 found this review helpful
I confess, I have not read this one yet, but will as soon as the paperback comes out. Nabb's Marshall Guarnaccia is the most underrated series I know of. The 'hero' is convinced he is not particularly good at his job, he walks and thinks slowly and he absorbs the huge atmosphere that Nabb infuses into her stories. The Marshall is completely Italian but completely understated. He has sympathy without bathos and a feel for people that he fails to articulate. He remembers everything. He is kind but not kindly. The bright sun makes the Marshall's eyes water, so he wear heavy sunglasses. He is completely comfortable in the dark and confused places of the heart and soul. Nabb writes by indirection. Nabb's Italy is not the one tourists see, but the Florentine offices of the police, the small and not always charming villages and the slightly seedy aged villas, steep low hills and poor roads. Her writing is lovely, controlled and understated. Her details stay with you, evoking both a mental image and a understanding of the scene. The dust of the Marshall's path sticks to your shoes. She manages to convey more in easy sentences than many writers do in chapters. Do not miss this woman and her Marshall. This is an amazing, deserving series.
Follows the Marshal as she tries to solve a baffling crime where no one has a clear motive July 12, 2008
Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
A studious single mother is well on the way to setting her life straight when the unspeakable occurs. "Vita Nuova: A Marshal Guarnaccia" follows the Marshal as she tries to solve a baffling crime where no one has a clear motive, though there has been plenty of opportunity; the only thing that sticks out is the strange behavior of prosecutor. An exciting story for mystery readers to sink their teeth into, "Vita Nuova: A Marshal Guarnaccia Investigation" is a top pick for community library collections.
last of the breed July 16, 2008
Joyce Eriksen (Blairsville, Ga United States)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
With the death of Nabb, her great Marshall is going to be missed. Florence has never been done so well. You could see the streets and hear the echoes of day to day life.
This is a series to be read and reread.
 Marshal Guarnaccia leaves the crime scene August 11, 2008
Blue (Washington, DC United States)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
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.
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