Magdalen Nabb (1947–2007)
Author of Death of an Englishman
About the Author
Magdalen Nabb 1947 - 2007 Children's author and crime writer Magdalen Nabb was born in Lancashire, England on January 16, 1947. She is the author of the Salvatore Guarnaccia series and the Josie Smith books. Her book Josie Smith was runner-up for the Guardian Children's Fiction Award in 1989 and show more Josie Smith and Eileen won the Smarties Book Prize in l99l. Occasionally she writes journalistic pieces for English, German, and Italian newspapers. Her final novel, Vita Nuova, was posthumously published in 2008. She died because of a stroke while in Florence, Italy, on August 18, 2007. She was 60 years old. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: http://diasquevoam.blogspot.com
Series
Works by Magdalen Nabb
Morte no Outono 1 copy
MORTE DE UM INGLÊS (PE2L71) 1 copy
Associated Works
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1947-01-16
- Date of death
- 2007-08-18
- Gender
- female
- Nationality
- UK
- Birthplace
- Church, Lancashire, England, UK
- Place of death
- Florence, Tuscany, Italy
- Places of residence
- Church, Lancashire, England, UK (birth)
Florence, Tuscany, Italy
Ramsbottom, Lancashire, England, UK - Education
- Convent Grammar School, Bury
- Occupations
- potter
crime novelist
children's book author
teacher - Relationships
- Simenon, Georges (long-time correspondent)
- Agent
- Diogenes Verlag, Zürich
- Short biography
- According to her Web site, Magdalen Nabb was born in Church, a moorland village in Lancashire, England. She studied art and, later, pottery which she taught in an English art school whilst exhibiting her own work until 1975 when she moved to Florence, Italy. There, she continued to work on pottery in a majolica studio in Montelupo Fiorentino, a pottery town near Florence, and began writing. It was in Montelupo that she met the model for Marshal Guarnaccia. The town itself, with its tumbledown factories and its wonderful restaurant, are featured in The Marshal and the Murderer. She lived and wrirote in Florence, near enough to the carabinieri station in the Pitti Palace to stroll there regularly and have a chat with the marshal who kept her up to date on crime in the city. She wrote for adults and for children and did occasional journalistic pieces for English, German and Italian papers.
Members
Reviews
Property of blood by Magdalen Nabb
Excellent book! Just not one I would want to read ever again, for reasons that would be spoilers.
It’s a few days before Christmas and all Marshal Salvatore Guarnaccia, a Sicilian based in Florence, wants to do is travel south to spend the holiday with his family. But he is in bed sick with the flu. The city's police stations are understaffed due to the impending holidays and anyway Pitti station usually only has minor crimes to deal with, so when a call comes through about a murder Carabinieri Bacci, a young cadet still at police school, is unsure whether to wake the Marshal or begin investigating himself. Bacci is always impeccably dressed, well intentioned and knows all the textbook procedures has absolutely no practical experience.
When Bacci arrives alone at a small apartment complex he discovers the body of Mr. Langley-Smythe, a seemingly respectable English bachelor who had previously worked for the British embassy in Rome before retiring to Florence. More puzzling however, is an ancient Roman majolica bust found nearby and a safe filled with various foreign banknotes. Langley-Smythe was an apparent reclusive miser with no known friends or enemies, so who shot him in the back and where did all the money come from?
Being a British citizen with some influential family members two detectives from New Scotland Yard are sent to assist in the investigation. The British detectives have very limited Italian language skills whilst Bacci's Captain speaks no English at all so Bacci is kept on the investigation to act as an interpreter.
Initially it seemed somewhat disconcerting that Guarnaccia is pretty well permanently laid up in bed and has very little involvement in the actual investigation given that he is supposedly the central figure of these books. Initially we only see him through Bacci's eyes, who regards him as an obese old man with possible Mafia links. But as the book reaches its climax we see Guarnaccia in a very different light, as a sensitive man and a good detective.
It's always interesting to see how different cultures react to one another when thrown together in a situation, throw in the added complication of a language barrier and you have the ingredients of an interesting tale, and Nabb seems to have been a keen observer.
There is a real motley crew of neighbours living in the victim's apartment block who add both colour and humour. We are shown the role of Italian night guards, given a glimpse into the relations between the North and the South of the country, the shady world of illegal antique exports and Nabb takes a sly poke at British ex-pats who live in the country without bothering to try to learn the language or the food. But the most important element is the city itself. You can almost visualise its narrow streets with its once grand buildings now struggling under the ravages of modern traffic.
In truth I'm not a real fan of detective novels but it felt like a homage to the Sherlock Holmes' novels, where others do all the grunt work and then Holmes or in this case Guarniccia with a piece of insight solves the crime. This also had the distinction that come the end of the book I felt that the murderer was the real victim here.
I found this a quick, entertaining read with some interesting characters. I'm curious to learn more about the Marshal and I cannot help but feel that Nabb was only testing the water with this book so surely those that follow must be even better so consequently I will be keeping my eyes peeled for the next book in the series.… (more)
When Bacci arrives alone at a small apartment complex he discovers the body of Mr. Langley-Smythe, a seemingly respectable English bachelor who had previously worked for the British embassy in Rome before retiring to Florence. More puzzling however, is an ancient Roman majolica bust found nearby and a safe filled with various foreign banknotes. Langley-Smythe was an apparent reclusive miser with no known friends or enemies, so who shot him in the back and where did all the money come from?
Being a British citizen with some influential family members two detectives from New Scotland Yard are sent to assist in the investigation. The British detectives have very limited Italian language skills whilst Bacci's Captain speaks no English at all so Bacci is kept on the investigation to act as an interpreter.
Initially it seemed somewhat disconcerting that Guarnaccia is pretty well permanently laid up in bed and has very little involvement in the actual investigation given that he is supposedly the central figure of these books. Initially we only see him through Bacci's eyes, who regards him as an obese old man with possible Mafia links. But as the book reaches its climax we see Guarnaccia in a very different light, as a sensitive man and a good detective.
It's always interesting to see how different cultures react to one another when thrown together in a situation, throw in the added complication of a language barrier and you have the ingredients of an interesting tale, and Nabb seems to have been a keen observer.
There is a real motley crew of neighbours living in the victim's apartment block who add both colour and humour. We are shown the role of Italian night guards, given a glimpse into the relations between the North and the South of the country, the shady world of illegal antique exports and Nabb takes a sly poke at British ex-pats who live in the country without bothering to try to learn the language or the food. But the most important element is the city itself. You can almost visualise its narrow streets with its once grand buildings now struggling under the ravages of modern traffic.
In truth I'm not a real fan of detective novels but it felt like a homage to the Sherlock Holmes' novels, where others do all the grunt work and then Holmes or in this case Guarniccia with a piece of insight solves the crime. This also had the distinction that come the end of the book I felt that the murderer was the real victim here.
I found this a quick, entertaining read with some interesting characters. I'm curious to learn more about the Marshal and I cannot help but feel that Nabb was only testing the water with this book so surely those that follow must be even better so consequently I will be keeping my eyes peeled for the next book in the series.… (more)
I love the marshal but this one is too gothic for my taste.
Loved it! Loving this series more and more as I read through them in order.
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Statistics
- Works
- 36
- Also by
- 3
- Members
- 2,920
- Popularity
- #8,772
- Rating
- 3.4
- Reviews
- 78
- ISBNs
- 279
- Languages
- 8
- Favorited
- 3