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?[...]

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. So the suicide of a Dutch jeweller looked like an open and shut case. Certainly, there were some slight discrepanc[...]

Praise for Magdalen Nabb:
"Magdalen Nabb is so good she's awesome."--"Philadelphia Inquirer"
"First rate. Engrossing, artful and -completely satisfying. Nabb is a fine writer."--Frank Conroy
"Elegant of style and elegant of mind."--"Publishers Weekly," starred
"Nabb is formidable."--[...]

Praise for the Marshal Guarnaccia series:
"This elegant series, which began in 1981 with "Death of an Englishman ." . . is set in Florence, a city that glows in the Tuscan sun. . . . His] sense of estrangement accounts for Guarnaccia's special perspective on strangers, those 'innocents' among t[...]

Praise for Magdalen Nabb: "The exquisite sensibility of Magdalen Nabb's police procedurals has all to do with the feeling of displacement that haunts her sensitively observed characters."--"The New York Times Book Review"
"Elegant in style and elegant in mind."--"Publishers Weekly" (starred revi[...]

It is just before Christmas and the marshal wants to go South to spend the holiday with his wife and family, but first he must recover from the flu (which has left the Florentine caribinieri short-handed) and also solve a murder. A seemingly respectable retired Englishman, living in a flat on the Vi[...]