Death in Springtime

First Sentence: "It can't be." It is the first of March and snowing in Florence. This is such an unusual event, no one notice two college woman being kidnapped at gunpoint. One of the girls is released but the second, the daughter of a wealthy American business, is still being held. Although Marshal Guarnaccia does what he can to help, it is up to Captain Maestrangelo, under the eye of the new Substitute Prosecutor to find and save the girl. Within 165 pages, Ms. Nabb has provided a well-crafted, classic police procedural. This isn't a guns-blazing, car chase story. It is one of gathering clues, knowing the area and the residents and putting together the evidence piece by piece. It is certainly evident how different the Italian system is from the American, but at the same time similar in the way the investigation was done and the determination to rescue the victim and find the kidnappers. Nabb provides a visual sense of the area, a bit of history of the Sardinian sheepherders and the impact of changing times. Guarnaccia plays a minor role in this story, but it is all handled so realistically. I very much enjoyed this book and look forward to continuing with the series.