The Innocent

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Nabb's Marshall Guarnaccia & Florence are both GREAT! - Rated
Magdalen Nabb's 13th Marshal Guarnaccia novel THE INNOCENT is the latest episode in her venerable crime series that has been going strong for over two decades. Her two leading characters are her persistent carabinieri NCO, Marshal Salvatore Guarnaccia, and her beloved adopted city, Florence.

The story begins with the discovery of a women's body in an out-of-the-way pool in the Boboli Gardens, the expansive park next to the Pitti Palace. This is literally in the good Marshal's back yard since his carabinieri offices and barracks are in a wing of the Pitti Palace. This crime has the usual challenges--identify the victim; determine whether the death was accidental or murder; identify possible motives; look for suspects; and find and arrest the killer.

When you read one of Ms. Nabb's novels, you also embark on a wonderful tour of Florence. She always gives special emphasis to the seasons--this one takes place in springtime, late May-early June. The locale is an artisan's quarter in a tiny piazza without a name. This tiny square was formed at the end of World War II, when the retreating German army bombed all the approaches to the Ponte Vecchio, thus making it unnecessary to destroy the historic bridge. Clues lead Guarnaccia to this artisan's quarter where we get wonderful insights into the plight of these artisans and the sustainability of their crafts in the 21st century. We get to know the shoemaker, the furniture restorer, and the local restaurant owner who caters to the workers instead of the tourists. Their apprentices are no longer the young upwardly mobile Italians, but foreigners from as far away as Japan.

Ms. Nabb is unique in featuring the carabinieri in her books--and not the state police favored by her colleagues like Donna Leon and Michael Dibdin. Unlike Commissario Guido Brunetti or Inspector Aurelio Zen, Marshal Guarnaccia has a close day-to-day relationship with the people in his neighborhood jurisdiction. So when a murder occurs, he has already established a sense of trust with them, and this always helps in the solution of the crime. In this book, we get an insight into Guarnaccia's relationship with the young carabinieri recruits he commands; and his relationship with his two teenage sons. Typically he feels inadequate in both tasks!

This wonderful novel is a social commentary on modern day Italy as well as an entertaining crime story.