The Marshal and the Murderer

SoHo continue to delight by re-issuing Nabb's superlative Florentine novels ( although why they aren't being put out in chronological order defeats me ).The story revolves around Guarnaccia's gradual unravelling of a decades old feud and it's tragic echo in the present.As ever with Ms. Nabb the story is told with wit and compassion , there are no car chases ( there is a bus ride in the rain ), no shoot-outs ( in 20 years Guarnaccia's Beretta has remained firmly in it's holster ) and no lack of compellingly drawn believable characters.Yet again the atmosphere of Florence is brought out ( apparently ) efortlessly and adds enormously to the success of the book.These are among the finest ctime novels to be written in the last 25 years.