The Marshal and the Madwoman
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4.7 • 3 Ratings
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Out giving his wife driving lessons, Marshal Guarnaccia of the Carabinieri witnesses a disturbance in the streets involving a local eccentric, “crazy Clementina.” When the woman is found dead in her apartment soon after the incident of an apparent suicide, the marshal is puzzled and immediately suspects foul play. But who would have a motive to kill her? As the marshal dives into the case and reconstructs Clementina’s tragic past, his investigation dredges up the events surrounding a disastrous flood some twenty years earlier and a controversial piece of legislation with profound effects on the lives of Italy’s mentally unstable residents.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
As in the previous entries in Nabb's Florentine series, the mystery here is incidental to the story of people infused with life by the sensitive author. The sixth case assigned to Marshal Guarnacci of the Pitti Palace brings him to a working-class community where a former mental patient, Clementina, lies dead after a clumsy attempt to fake her suicide. A poor woman, helped by neighbors, Clementina had nothing worth killing for, and the marshal's questions yield few clues. Although the cold, domineering prosecutor chivvies the marshal as a stupid plodder, Guarnacci traces links to the victim patiently, simultaneously giving attention to everyone who brings their problems to him. Eventually, a conversation with an elderly survivor of the ruinous flood in Florence tells the marshal what he needs to know in order to convict a low type for several felonies. This superb novel rises far above the staples of the genre.
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