Praise for the Marshal Guarnaccia series:

"This elegant series, which began in 1981 with Death of an Englishman . . . is set in Florence, a city that glows in the Tuscan sun. . . . [His] sense of estrangement accounts for Guarnaccia's special perspective on strangers, those innocents'among the living and the dead."-The New York Times Book Review

"Lean, elegant prose that surpasses the best of Simenon, along with a puckish view of the Florentines from Guarnaccia's Sicilian perspective."-Kirkus Reviews

"The richest mystery here, however, is Florence itself, whose intricate politics and class structure Nabb parses with precision and wit."-The Washington Post

"Great local atmosphere and rich characterizations."-Publishers Weekly

"A superb series. . . . A working-man's Maigret."-Booklist

"Crime fiction at its best."-The Sunday Times(London)

"Guarnaccia's Florence is a delightful place to visit."-Mystery Scene

Summoned by an aged woman to investigate mysterious noises in the vacant flat next to hers, Marshal Guarnaccia discovers a dying Dutch jeweler. The old lady had known him when he was a boy growing up in Florence. Could he have returned to the family home just to commit suicide? Or could the man be the victim of a cunning murderer?

Magdalen Nabbwas born in Lancashire. She has lived in Florence since 1975 and has written twelve Marshal Guarnaccia mysteries. This is the second in the series.

Magdalen Nabb wrote fourteen books in the Marshal Guarnaccia series. She was born and educated in England, and she lived and wrote in Florence, where she died on August 18, 2007.