Death of a Dutchman

Marshal Guarnaccia Mystery #2

by Magdalen Nabb

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 discrepancies. But the only witnesses were a blind man, and an old woman given to vicious lying. Yet the Marshal felt uneasy - it was all so conveniently simple.

Genres: Mystery, Italy, Fiction, Crime, Procedural, Mystery Thriller, Thriller

Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

MAGDALEN NABB was born in Lancashire in 1947 and trained as a potter. In 1975 she abandoned pottery, sold her home and her car, and came to Florence with her son, knowing nobody and speaking no Italian. She has lived there ever since, and pursues a dual career as crime writer and children's author.

She has written fourteen crime novels featuring Marshal Guarnaccia of the carabinieri, all set in Florence, which she describes as 'a very secret city. Walk down any residential street and you have no idea what is going on behind those blank walls. It's a problem the Marshal comes up against all the time.'

Magdalen Nabb also writes the immensely successful Josie Smith books, set in her native Lancashire, which form the basis of the Granada children's TV series, Josie Smith, scripted by the author. Her first book, Josie Smith, was runner-up for the Guardian Children's Fiction Award in 1989, and in l99l, Josie Smith and Eileen was winner of the prestigious Smarties Book Prize for the 6-8 age group.

Series:
* Marshal Guarnaccia Mystery
* Josie Smith

Reviews

[LJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

DEATH OF A DUTCHMAN (Pol Proc-Marshall Salva Guarnaccia-Florence, Italy-Cont) - VG
Nabb, Magdalen – 2nd in series
Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1982, US Hardcover – ISBN: 0684178478

First Sentence: ‘Signora Giusti!’ protested Lorenzini, holding the receiver away from his ear and throwing open his free hand in despair.

An elderly woman is known for calling the carabiniere station to complain. This time Marshall Salva Guarnaccia agrees to go in person. She heard an argument in the next door apartment, then silence. After talking with her for awhile, and learning she has keys to the apartment in question, he agrees to investigate, only to find a young man at the point of death, whose dying whisper is “It wasn’t her.”

Nabb doesn’t provide as strong a sense of place as some writers; her style reminds me more of someone so familiar with a place, they forget its significance.

Where she does excel is with her characters and observations of people—the elderly woman afraid of dying alone, the blind man who can “see” through his other senses, the other policemen who work with the Marshall—these are all brought vividly to life.

Marshall Guarnaccia is a wonderful character. He is a Sicilian stationed in Florence living without his wife and sons, as they are caring for his incapacitated mother. Because of that, he lives at the station barracks. He is dedicated, empathetic and caring, with subtle humor.

Although this is only the second book in the series, as well as the second I’ve read, I’ve learned a bit more about the character with each book, and it makes me want to continue to learn more still.

My criticisms are that there was an incidence of foreshadowing, which was irritating and unnecessary, and the conclusion was definitely unusual and a bit odd.

I only recently discovered Nabb’s Guarnaccia series, am loving it and delighted to know I’ve many more books in the series ahead of me.

[John Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I said in my comments on the previous book in the series, 'Death of an Englishman', that I was eager to read the next in the series but hadnt expected it to be my next book. I am not complaining.

Towards the end of the last book I thought that I was starting to understand a bit about the Italian system. I spoke too soon. I may have grasped some of the differences in the type of police but the intracacies in the legal system , that added to the urgency and excitement in the novel are still a mystery to me.

Here the Marshal is one of the first on the scene of a death but as one of the Carabinieri doesnt have the authority to investigate officially he does so 'off his own bat'. As I knew what sort of story to expect and the differences in the Italian Police force to our own, I was on the look out for clues from the off. Although I didnt collect them all, I managed a couple. I think that it would be difficult for anyone not 'au fait' with Italian customs to have cracked this one.

I think the author paints good pictures of her characters for us and keeps the number of potential suspects down to a minimum to help us. Although I have only been to Florence once, I had no difficulty seeing the venues of the action action in my minds eye, and feeling the oppressive heat of the Italian summer.

I am not sure about the largely unrelated incident at the end of the book and wonder if, perhaps, it would have been best left for the start of the next where it may have some significance. I shall soon see as it is already on my shelf.

[J. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Difficult to know what happened with this. On the plus side, you have the delicately-rendered atmosphere of Florence, memorable characters that aren't 'mystery story characters', an intriguing dilemma, a surreal set-piece (the pursuit thru the old city), a blind eyewitness, and eventually, a good set of closing plot-points and revelations.

And an interesting appearance of the Confratelli Misericordia di Fiorenze, a kind of paramedic catholic brotherhood with a history back to the plague years in Florence.

But it's an upside-down cake of a book, one that just didn't properly reverse itself out of the pan. Many many moments are spent drifting around aimlessly in the middle two-thirds of the story, taking reader and the detective on a confusing, drifting circle thru the plot. That's a strategy that can work nicely if, beneath the surface, unassuming clues are strewn during the 'drifting' period; still waters running deep, etc. But not the vaguest sense of inevitability in these chapters, or even anything like a false solution, crops up to punctuate the narrative.

So a little more maddening that something that just doesn't work, or is just second rate. Ideal ingredients, albeit a meandering recipe, and finally no cake and no eating it either.

Doesn't put me off, though. Mozart had off days too. I'll try another Magdalen Nabb anytime.

[Greta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Murder in Florence, Italy, is not a tourist's dream trip, but it happens with some regularity as in all busy cities of the world. What's unusual is this case is that the crime is solved without conversation with any members of the family. Neighbors, shop keepers and other business owners know some of the people concerned and that helps police unravel the mystery.

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Death of a Dutchman probably is not a mystery for everyone. It moves, at least until the end, at a langorous pace, like Florence in the summer. It is full of conversation and the Marshal's bewildered searches and sure hunches. He is a beautiful man - in his patience, his sympathy, his acknowledgement of his limitations, and his dogged determination. A fine, sad story told with compassion in its concerns for family relations that it makes it something more than just a mystery.

[Karmen · Rating 3 out of 5]

2d Marshal Guarnaccia mystery. Infortunately, I recognized the murder's identity much too quickly.

[Susan]

Gave up - too much talk, not enough action!

[Kb · Rating 3 out of 5]

So I can’t get over the fact that for a good portion of the middle of this book the Marshal was chasing a woman he knew as Signora Goossens through the streets of Florence and as he followed her into a pensione, he thought, “It was a place he had to call in at anyway, if he ever gave up this wild goose chase.”
(I can’t make up my mind whether Magdelan Nabb was patting herself on the back for that or not.)

The reason he would have to call in anyway was because one of his official responsibilities was checking hotel registers to see that they were keeping track of guests properly—something to do with terrorists.

Anyway, back to the actual mystery…I guessed what happened to the Dutchman early on, but the details needed some explanation. In some ways it was a plot worthy of Simenon. Maigret in Vichy comes to mind.

It’s similar to the Maigret stories in other ways. The character of the people involved—victim, family, friends, witnesses—has a bearing on the story. The old woman who reported the crime, the jewellery designer/craftsman who had been an apprentice of the Dutchman’s father, the old blind flower seller who was helpful regarding the past and the present, all had their roles to play in learning more about the Dutchman, Ton Goossens, and members of his family.

I like these books because I’m in the mood for an Italian Maigret stand-in and I like learning quirky details about Florence (the Misericordia, for example). I’m not sure I could universally recommend them, however. But if you’re looking for an old-fashioned procedural in a non-English-speaking European country, you might like these books.

[Armanda Moncton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did not enjoy this as much as Death of an Englishman. Magdalen Nabb is a very good writer with elements of Simenon's Maigret mixed with Donna Leon's Brunetti. However, Marshal Guarnaccia is a bit of a sad sap type of fellow and this is a downer for me. He has very little power and not too much confidence in himself. On the other hand, he is wise as to the motivations underlying people's actions and words and intuits a lot of what has happened beneath the surface. He is kind and caring and I really like his big heart. The gratuitous sad ending of this book left me wondering whether I will try another in the series or not. I was really looking forward to enjoying a series that did not have as much grey grittiness as is common in much of the crime fiction today, and thought I had found it with Nabb after reading the first book. Oh well.

[Carla · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the idea of a mystery series set in the charming, historical city of Florence. This second book in the series was written in 1981 (as was the first book) so the methods the detectives used did not include current methods like cell phone records, DNA or GPS so the investigation centred around the police officers’ knowledge of people, and their ability to use their brains and intuition to assess people. The main character, Marshall Guarnaccia, is an unusual police officer who sees what others miss, and is himself, as a Sicilian, somewhat of a fish out of water in a city where most people’s families have lived forever. Thus this series is really a more old fashioned kind of mystery set in Florence. It’s a quick, read that is more like Hercule Poirot or Sherlock Holmes than it is like recent mysteries.

[Eugene · Rating 2 out of 5]

While checking on an elderly recluse, Florentine carabinieri Marshall Guarnaccia discovers a man dying in an adjacent apartment. The coroner attributes a barbiturate overdose and slashed hands to a suicide, but Guarnaccia cannot agree; the dying man’s last words were, “It wasn’t her,” and surely this signifies some other agency for his death…
As with the first in this series, Marshall Guarnaccia is depicted as a humble countryman who cannot actually investigate crimes, but is impelled to see justice done, and so he continues to poke around looking for a better explanation.
The pace of this story is laboringly slow, often fairly repetitive, and contains many telephone conversations which are largely one-sided and thus difficult to decipher. I don’t rule out reading further in the series, but it’s not a priority.

[David C Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good series but this one is not quite at the level of the others. The suspicious death of a jeweler with a very complicated family background including two sisters, one his wife, who dislike each other. Although well written it’s pacing is just too slow. (The main source on the family is a 91 year old woman who likes to talk. . .and talk) The plotting is very vague as the police try to figure out the family but anyone who’s paid any attention to mysteries, written or filmed, will know what two sisters means. . .

[RavenT · Rating 3 out of 5]

The second book in the series (pub. in 1982) is more traditional in form than the first book. A literary mystery, the prose and characterizations are worth reading. The plot was a bit predictable, but the setting and characters made this enjoyable to me. For modern readers, at just over 200 pages this book might seem too short, but I thought it was sufficient length.

I'd read more in the series, but I'm not sure I'd hunt high and low for more - there are 15 books in the series, and the last one came out in 2008.

[lauri ✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very fast and easy read. I would give it 3.5/4 stars. I enjoyed the atmosphere of Florence in Summer and the style of writing, which was quick and interesting. Additionally the dialouges and charcters were very well written. The pace of action was very fitting. I loved the little twists and turns, eventhough some investigations and results remained rather vague. Also, Gino's death really hit me... All in all - a nice and easy summer read.

[Darius Ostrowski · Rating 3 out of 5]

You can tell this is an earlier book, Ms. Nabb is still learning her craft and the Marshal is still new to the murder game. It also is a bit easier to solve and gets a bit frustrating as you wait for Marshal to figure it out. And the foreshadowing gets a bit heavy handed with a sub-plot.

But I like it nevertheless.

[deb · Rating 3 out of 5]

Trying to read these in order from the library. This, the 2nd, was easier to read now that I’m used to the writer’s style which flows on at length in long long paragraphs. I skip the middle. Lots of details to set the scene which I don’t want to wallow in. The crime had a complex feel at first but the solution was easy and suggested from the start. I’m warming up to the Marshall finally.

[Hugh Heinsohn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much better than the first book in my recollection. Easier to follow story, although by the end of book I was wondering what the point was. Engaging descriptions of Florence in the heat of summer kept it interesting enough for me but I don’t think I’ll read any more by this author.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked this up as a potential beach read and it was pretty good! A couple little dated things but not too many. Although I disliked one scene at the end big time which drops it down a star. I'm gonna pick up the next in this series and see how it goes.

[Anders · Rating 1 out of 5]

Did not finish, couldn't stay interested in it. Page 100.

[Maddy · Rating 3 out of 5]

RATING: 3.25

[Linda Irving · Rating 2 out of 5]

Marshal Guarnaccia investigates a suspicious death in Florence. The stifling summer heat and the slogging investigation made for an equaling laborious read.

[Benjamin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've enjoyed the Marchsall Guarnaccia series for years and only have 2 or 3 books left before finishing them all, I'll be sad when there are no more to read.

[Wendy Bamford · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book and was a good read. I would recommend it

[Bev · Rating 2 out of 5]

Marshal Salvatore Guarnaccia's superiors are all for calling the death of a Dutch jeweler a suicide. They'd actually like to be able to call it an accident--just to make it easier for the widow. But Guarnaccia, who found the dying man when he was paying a visit to an elderly recluse, doesn't believe it. He can't forget the jeweler's last words, "It wasn't her" and he can't forget the way the room looked and the fact that the elderly woman had heard the jeweler and an unknown woman fighting earlier. The dedicated officer is puzzled and suspicious and must work his way through official red tape, complaining tourists, rumors of terrorists, the oppressive July heat, and the dead man's troubled past in order to discover the truth.

I really want to like Marshal Guarnaccia. I really do. Other reviewers on GoodReads have compared the Marshal to Columbo. I'd say that the Marshal doesn't even have the confidence of Columbo. He has no self-confidence whatsoever--even though he is obviously a much better detective (and far more dedicated to the truth than some of his counterparts and superiors). He is a likeable character in a Droopy, the cartoon dog, sort of way. He's so self-conscious you feel obligated to like him. But I've finally decided that these books just aren't for me. This is the third Guarnaccia book I've read and I find it hard to want to read a story where you feel like the main character is swimming upstream the entire time. He continually has no confidence in himself and tells us over and over that he doesn't have the authority to investigate. As an author, why in the world would you want to saddle yourself with a "detective" who's a member of the official police force but who really doesn't have the authority to conduct investigations. But does anyway? And solves them--but isn't really recognized for doing so and doesn't get to have authority to solve future ones....

This story seemed particularly convoluted to me and despite the blurb from Kirkus Reviews on the back of my edition, I see no connection to Agatha Christie plots whatsoever and no real evidence of "gentle Italian comedy." Given what happens to one of the younger officers at the end...it's more of an Italian tragedy. McNabb's best quality is still her ability to describe Florence in such an appealing manner and to make the reader feel as though they are there. This would be why I'm givng a ★★ -rating and not just one.

First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.

[Bert van der Vaart · Rating 3 out of 5]

I generally love Italy and Florence of course in particular. This I sat down to read this book full of anticipation and pleasure.

Perhaps because Florence is so spectacular that this book sort of disappointed. While it kept a surprise till the end as to who was the murderer of the "Dutchman" in question, and while the protagonist/detective gratifyingly and honestly bumbled his way to the conclusion, I nonetheless was a little disappointed by this book. It was a bit slow in places, and perhaps the detective was a bit too bumbling (although probably realistic).

In the end, the key unexpected custom which undid the murderess was the fact that without special payment, the Florentine cemeteries would take up the bones of all those buried with such payment after 10 years and dispose of the bones. In a nice touch, the detective became aware of this because (somewhat improbably) he took the time to listen to, and even bring some chocolates from time to time to an old lady who lived opposite the apartment where the murder took place. In a sense, had he not shown this old lady respect, he would not have come onto the key clue on which this case unravels.

This is a nice touch--even if the lack of policemen today and their triage approach makes all this as unreal today as doctors making house calls or milk men delivering to houses. Still, the book shows that those who respect their fellow man and woman will understand what is happening, whereas elite without such contact would be clueless.

So parts of this book are nice and it even has a positive moral--but unfortunately to my taste in any case, the book is somewhat dated and the nuggets seem to be too few to merit the prospecting versus the many other books that are better.

[Karschtl · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the early Nabb-novels about Constable Guarnaccia. The difference between him and Comissario Brunetti by Donna Leon is, that he is actually not the man in charge of solving the crime. He's just a regular head of a small police department, only in charge of his 3 or 4 younger colleagues and mostly concerned with thefts of a Fiat.
In this novel he finds an almost dead Dutchman, who looks as if he comitted suicide. But there is something that doesn't fit into this theory of suicide, Guarnaccia thinks. And so he starts to investigate secretly by himself, with the help of a 91-year-old neighbor, a blind man and old collegues of the dutchman.
I did guess the outcome of the story several pages before the end, but it was nevertheless a very good story with a very likable main character.

[Monica · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a well thought out mystery with enough twists and turns to keep me guessing until almost the very end, at which point the author, Magdalen Nabb, wrapped everything up very nicely.

After the death of a jeweller in his Florence apartment, Marshal Salvatore Guarnaccia feels that things just aren’t right and there is murder in the air...and the chase is on through the streets of this Italian city. “Death of a Dutchman” is a fast-paced read featuring one of my new favourite detectives.

And as mentioned in several of my other book reviews that take place in Florence...it’s nice to have a visual of the city, knowing exactly where the Marshal was when he entered the Boboli Gardens and what it was like to smell the bay leaves on the tree. It’s a bit like going back on vacation...

[Desiree · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the Marshal Guarnaccia series and, being Dutch, was of course attracted by this title.
The Dutchman from the title is actually half Italian and half Dutch. Although born in Italy he has lived in Amsterdam for over ten years. When he returns to his house in Florence one night without informing any of his neighbours he dies of an overdose of sleeping pills.
Although it looks like a suicide initially the Marshal has his doubts, and not without reason as it turns out.
The descriptions of Florence and of the places the Marshal passes on his walks through the city are very nice. Some things are a bit outdated, but then again, the book was written over 30 years ago.

[Babette · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a satisfying sequel to the first in the series, but it did not have quite the impact on me as the first. The view into Marshal Guarnaccia's tumultuous and sensitive mind is well-done and his character remains sympathetic, but the plot was a bit frustrating for me. I suppose that serves to underscore Guarnaccia's own frustration with the case and with his lot. Through the characters, Nabb continues to provide a look into life in Italy - the importance of family, place and tradition.

[Beth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Originally published in 1982—probably not worth re-reading. The mystery takes place in Florence and revolves around the apparent suicide of a Dutchman with a ninety-one year old former beauty as the primary witness. Through the tenacity of the Marshal, the mystery is unraveled. Two interesting asides. (1) There are cultures that are more interested in exiting life properly than sustaining it. (2) Due to lack of cemetery space, bodies in Florence are buried for 10 years, but then are dug up, the bones put in a special container, and the grave used by the next person.