Magdalen Nabb

When the body of Buongianni Corsi is found lying face down in the courtyard of the Palazzo Ulderighi there seems no doubt in the minds of his family that his death was an accident. The Marchesa, wife of the dead man, will entertain no other possibility and her power and status in the city means that Marshal Guarnaccia questions at his peril. But question he does.The death could have been suicide, or even murder. Guarnaccia knows something is not quite right, and resents being expected to go along with any possible cover up. The Palazzo is a maze of passageways, darkened corridors, locked rooms and something else, a family secret. Can he ignore his instincts and his integrity? Should he press on with the case, risk his job, and maybe more? As he paces the courtyard of the Palazzo, he is haunted by the strange piano and flute music that filters down from above, as well as by the irresistible conviction that something truly sinister has happened there...

Sie ist auf dem Revier, um ihre Freundin vermißt zu melden. Beide sind ursprünglich zum Italienischlernen aus der Schweiz nach Florenz gekommen und dann geblieben, um in einer nahen Kleinstadt illegal zu arbeiten. Seit drei Tagen ist die bildhübsche Monika Heer spurlos verschwunden. Als die Leiche des Mädchens unter einem Haufen Tonscherben entdeckt wird, ist auch Maresciallo Guarnaccia ratlos.

Die Leiche einer Frau wird aus dem Arno gezogen, nur mit Pelzmantel und Perlenkette bekleidet. Wer war die Frau? Überall hieß es, sie habe sehr zurückgezogen gelebt. Wachtmeister Guarnaccia in seinem Büro an der Piazza Pitti ahnte, daß der Fall schwierig und schmutzig war - Drogen, Erpressung, Sexgeschäfte -, aber daß nur weitere Tote das Dickicht der roten Fäden entwirren sollten, konnte er nicht wissen ...

Schnee im März ist in Florenz etwas sehr Ungewöhnliches. Und genauso unerwartet ist die Lösung von Maresciallo Guarnaccias Fall.

Florenz, kurz vor Weihnachten: Wachtmeister Guarnaccia brennt darauf, nach Sizilien zu seiner Familie zu kommen, doch da geschieht ein Mord. Betrug und gestohlene Kunstschätze kommen ans Licht, aber sie sind nur der Hintergrund zu einer privaten Tragödie. Zuletzt kommt der Wachtmeister (wenn auch eher unwillig) dem Mörder auf die Spur - und an Heiligabend gerade noch den letzten Zug nach Syrakus erwischt.

Olivia, an American-born model, married Count Ugo Brunamonti, a feckless, soon impoverished aristocrat. After his death, she supported her children by starting a fashion house which has prospered. When she is kidnapped, the crime is reported to Marshal Guarnaccia by her daughter, who may have been the intended victim. Kidnapping is almost a second business for the Sardinians nominally engaged in raising sheep in the Tuscan hills. They inhabit a vast wilderness where a victim can be hidden away forever, and where those searching for her will be quickly spotted. The government's official policy is not to permit the payment of ransom. But if the money isn't paid, the kidnappers cannot let their victim go free. It would set a bad example. In this case, Guarnaccia suspects another problem. Can it be that Olivia's children are unwilling to pay the ransom? Is this more than a random crime?

A little toy horse is about to change Irina�s life forever. Award-winning classic young fiction, beautifully illustrated.

Based on a chilling true crime, The Monster of Florence follows the reopening of a cold case--a serial killer who targeted unmarried couples and terrorized Florence for two decades. Marshal Guarnaccia's job with the carabinieri--the local Florentine police--usually involves restoring stolen handbags to grateful old ladies and lost cameras to bewildered tourists. So when he is assigned to work with the police to try to track down a vicious serial killer, he feels out of his league. To make matters worse, the prosecutor he must report to is Simonetti, the same man he knows drove an innocent man to suicide several years earlier in his blind quest for a conviction. The marshal can't let the stress of the case get to him if he wants to make sure justice is upheld.

When Marshal Guarnaccia is called upon to investigate the murder of a young woman he is convinced that there's more to the family than meets the eye, and wonders if the girl's father, Paoletti, might have had something to do with her death.

Auf einer Anhöhe mit Blick auf Florenz steht das alte Landgut des Signor Paoletti, das er mit viel Pomp hat renovieren lassen. Doch so nobel, wie Paoletti tut, ist er bei weitem nicht. Mehr als einen schwarzen Fleck hat er auf seiner Weste, und als Guarnaccia die 'Personalvermittlung' näher untersucht, die Paoletti betreibt, wird der Maresciallo handfest bedroht.

Sie kam und blieb - um ein Stück florentinisches Handwerk zu erlernen. Die junge Japanerin Akiko war so stolz auf ihr erstes Paar selbstgefertigter Schuhe, daß sie es immerzu trug, auch am Tag ihres Todes. Guarnaccia, der in Florenz stationierte Sizilianer, verfolgt den Fall in einer Stadt, die er kennt wie seine Hosentasche, und befragt ihre Bewohner, deren Charaktere und Intrigen er noch weit besser kennt.

The most consistent of all series in terms of language control, length, and quality of story. David R. Hill, Director of the Edinburgh Project on Extensive Reading.

It is spring in Florence and everyone around Marshal Guarnaccia seems to be in love, even his own son. The case he is working on, the murder of a young woman, seems to present no particular problems. No distressed parents, no political or influential connections, no pressure from the media. The investigation takes him only a few steps from home, to the Boboli gardens and to the artisans' quarter - where he knows everybody and everybody knows him. The locals also trust him - until he seems to be accusing one of them...Then everything changes. A second death follows and Guarnaccia is convinced that it is his fault. The case becomes one of the most distressing he's ever had to handle. Burdened with guilt, he finds it impossible to trust his own instincts any more...But he has to learn to do so before he can get at the truth...

There was enough trouble around to keep the police busy for months. All over Florence tourists were being robbed, cars stolen, and somewhere in the city terrorists were quietly at work. But the only witnesses were a blind man, and an old woman given to vicious lying. Yet the Marshal felt uneasy - it was all so conveniently simple...

Marshal Guarnaccia of the Florence carabinieri is first puzzled and then irritated when he is dragged into a last-ditch attempt to nail the Monster, a vicious serial killer who has ritually slaughtered seven courting couples in the most brutal of circumstances. But he is soon sucked into the horror and squalor of a multi-layered case.

Sara Hirsch bittet Maresciallo Guarnaccia um Hilfe: Sie hat das Gefühl, daß jemand in ihrer Wohnung war. Außerdem hat die alte Dame eine anonyme Postkarte bekommen, die mit dem Text beginnt: "Jetzt, da wir wissen, wo du wohnst..." Guarnaccia verspricht, am nächsten Tag bei ihr vorbeizuschauen. Doch da wird er wegen eines Einbruchs in die Villa eines englischen Kunstsammlers gerufen. Über diesen neuen Fall hätte Guarnaccia die alte Signora Hirsch fast vergessen. Als er sie schließlich wiedersieht, liegt sie tot in ihrer Wohnung. Den Commissario plagen Gewissensbisse...

Marshal Salvatore Guarnaccia of the Florentine carabinieri is laid up with flu over Christmas. During this time the murder of an Englishman is reported. But why has Scotland Yard felt it appropriate to send two detectives?

Sara Hirsch is a nervous elderly spinster who lives in the flat in Florence in which she was raised. Frightened, she calls Marshal Guarnaccia for help as she is sure that strangers have been in her apartment. Before he can respond, however, she is found dead.